


A Gift From Above

by MilenaDaniels



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s10e19 Dominion, F/M, Family, Kid Fic, Mission Gone Wrong, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-12
Updated: 2012-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-18 11:43:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilenaDaniels/pseuds/MilenaDaniels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something went wrong and they've paid for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Emptiness

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally posted at Fanfiction.net and Livejournal October 9, 2007 and completed July 9, 2010.

**Five years ago**

Daniel couldn't keep his leg from bouncing nervously on the grassy floor. For three days now they'd been camped on the planet of the last possible gate address for the location of the Clava Thessara Infinitas and each one of those days passed by without interruption. It wasn't right, something had to be wrong. Three days ago they'd left Vala on a planet that Adria was scheduled to visit the next day. They hadn't had much time to prepare but it was their best shot at a successful ambush and Vala had fought tooth and nail to go through with it…despite his enthusiasm to the contrary.

Three days.

He never should have listened to her. It was a good plan, a brilliant plan really, but she was out following through with that plan alone, without any back-up, and with the mistaken idea that she wasn't welcome at the SGC…Daniel sighed with displeasure, earning himself a concerned glance from Sam. He shook his head dismissing her worry and returned to his internal frustrations.

Three whole days.

She'd been gone for barely half a week and the team felt lacking somehow. There was a painful void, an emptiness that they all felt and it was only exacerbated with the thought that, despite being in undoubtedly good health, Vala was on some other planet, without them and harboring serious feelings of betrayal towards them. That was the worst part. Daniel knew more than anyone how hard Vala had worked to earn their trust, their friendship, their loyalty and she now believed she'd lost it all. Thinking of what she must be feeling right now was eating him up.

Three agonizing days of waiting.

He should have zatted her and locked her up somewhere after she'd told him her plan. Granted, Cameron had been in the room at the time so pretending that she'd never said anything would have been slightly difficult but he still could have tried. He shouldn't have berated her bravery and ingenuity with such callous disregard, that had only riled her up and gotten her even more determined to see her plan through. He should have taken her aside at that moment and told her how the very idea of her walking directly into Adria's path without them terrified him, but he hadn't. He hadn't said anything important until after the plan was approved and scheduled. He'd been an idiot.

"Hey," Cameron called, knowing exactly what thoughts were running through his friend's head. "They'll be here."

The moment those words had been uttered, the stargate activated, the bursting event horizon echoing the explosion of joy and relief in Daniel's chest at the thought of being reunited with his infuriating former space pirate.

SG's 1, 3 and 4 all rallied around the stargate, their weapons raised, ready to meet both an enemy and a friend. The event horizon rippled and a solitary form came through, the blue swirls of the vortex dissipating after her exit. Her eyes were wide and her lips pursed as she took in her greeting party.

"Where is she?" Cameron demanded of the raven-haired woman.

"Where is whom?" she asked innocently after her momentary surprise faded.

"Vala." Daniel returned impatiently "Where is she?"

The beautiful woman extended her hand breezily toward them but faltered with shock when all weapons stayed firmly gripped in the soldiers' hands. Adria looked at Cameron who was waving an Anti-Prior device at her and seethed, the different pieces of this despicable trick falling into place in her mind.

"You sent my mother to lead me into an ambush." she accused them, unconcerned by their weaponry and ire.

"Where is she, Adria?" Daniel asked again. He felt his heart churn painfully when she smirked victoriously.

"My mother is being escorted to my flagship as we speak." she informed them, delighting in their distraught expressions.

"You've captured your enemy." she congratulated them sweetly. "Was it worth losing her?"

Before anyone could answer, dozens of Jaffa were beamed down and surrounded the Tau'ri.

"Lower your weapons!" a Jaffa ordered them.

"Buddy, I think you got the wrong planet." Cam replied with a hint of warning.

"Lower your weapons, or we will all perish." the Jaffa replied sincerely "My master, Lord Ba'al, has targeted this location from orbit."

With immense hesitance and even more irritation, Cam motioned the SG teams to lower their P-90's. The Jaffa walked up the stairs to Adria and Daniel closed his eyes with bitter disappointment when he understood what he was fastening to her arm.

"What are you doing?" Cameron demanded crossly.

"Carrying out my orders." the Jaffa said simply before he, his soldiers and Adria disappeared in a show of bright light leaving them empty handed and broken hearted.

After checking in with the SGC, SG-1 immediately gated to the planet on which they'd left Vala. For almost an hour, they held the miniscule hope that Adria had been lying but it had dwindled into dread when those few who had come into contact with their teammate all reported seeing her escorted out of the village by armed guards of the Orici. They returned to Earth a downtrodden and disheartened group having to report the fact that Vala had been taken from them yet again and they didn't know when they'd ever see her again.

* * *

**P** **resent Time**

Daniel sat at the table in his office keeping his ears alert for visitors.

"Hello, gorgeous." Vala smiled brightly at him and Daniel couldn't help but reciprocate softly.

"If you're watching this you're obviously back at Stargate Command and you're probably thinking that everyone around you has gone completely, pfft, wonko." her digitized voice narrated from his desktop. Daniel smiled knowing what was coming. "With the possible exception of Daniel who, let's face it, was always a little - "

"Vala!"

Daniel watched her dark eyes sparkle with mischief as his own voice sounded in the background.

This wasn't the first time he'd watched the recording she'd made before leaving. For months after they'd returned to Earth without her, the tape had been forgotten in turbulence of chaotic Search and Rescue missions. They'd sent out teams for two weeks, scouring the known Ori-converted worlds in the hopes of finding her captors but they'd been unsuccessful and the IOA had pulled the plug on their efforts.

Daniel had seriously considered removing himself from the program for the third time but his friends had convinced him that they had better odds of running into her on missions than he would have alone. He'd stayed, but on days like this he really wished he hadn't. It had been five long and lonely years. The somber mood that had descended upon their team had never fully dissipated, no matter how hard Cam had tried. They'd gotten so used to Vala's wide smiles, easy enthusiasm and bouncing energy and her absence, her  _capture_ , had taken all of that away from them.

"Hey."

The soft voice at his doorway startled him and he instinctively reached to turn off the video before realizing who it was.

"Hey Sam." he said, allowing the video to continue on his laptop. Sam pushed herself off the doorframe and pointed at his screen.

"You watching Vala?" she asked with a small smile.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You want me to rewind it?"

"Sure." she said, taking another chair and pulling it to the table. The tape stayed with Daniel always, there'd never been any question about that, but every once in awhile Sam would join him. Sometimes Teal'c would too. Cam never watched the recording with any of them but the tape had mysteriously vanished a few times over the years only to reappear the next day. Daniel, after the first episode of heart-wrenching panic upon discovering the tape missing, had learned to make several copies.

Daniel and Sam watched Vala in silence to the very end, smiling most of the way through.

"It's funny," he said afterwards "she doesn't seem as annoying as I remember."

Sam watched her friend with a sad smile before nudging his shoulder with hers.

"Well, you know what they say: absence does make the heart grow fonder."

Daniel gave her a hint of a grin but remained silent. Watching the still of Vala's glowing face in pause, his grin was washed away and his face took on a dark expression.

"We're never going to find her." he said quietly. He wasn't asking for reassurance, he wasn't asking Sam to deny the claim. He was informing her.

It had been five years and they hadn't even heard tell of her name on any Ori worlds. They'd never just missed her, they'd never been a week too late, she'd simply never been seen. Not only that but, to their knowledge, the Ori troops and Priors were all but defeated. Their last show-down with any Ori fleet had been two years ago and, having won by a long shot, the SGC hadn't heard much from them since.

The Ori-converted planets were safe now and there was talk of one or two of their ships surviving but that was believed to be rumours propagated by Ori-supporters to keep the rest of the galaxy on their toes. She hadn't been on any of the planets and there were no ships left, short of being in the actual Ori galaxy Vala had disappeared completely. They weren't going to find her.

Sam said nothing, as he knew she would. She simply leaned over and started the tape anew.

"Hello, gorgeous."

* * *

"Sir, could I bother you for a minute?" Full-bird-Colonel Cameron Mitchell asked from General Landry's doorway.

"Come on in, Colonel." Landry replied, knowing already what the issue would concern.

October was never a good month for them, it was the month they'd lost Vala. They probably wouldn't have noticed it so much but Hallowe'en had only been three weeks away and Vala had been so excited to participate in the eccentric but amusing Tau'ri custom of getting dressed in bizarre costumes, watching horror movies and pigging out on junk food. She'd already roped most of her team into celebrating it with her, Cameron and Daniel being the only ones to put up any kind of resistance.

So it wasn't so much the actual  _month_  but rather the small pieces of black and orange decorations going up in offices and all around town that reminded them of their loss. Hence, Mitchell's need to keep his team active and busy.

"Sir," Cam started tensely, sitting down in front of the General's desk. "we need to go off-world."

"What's the problem, son?"

"No problem, sir," Cameron said easily "we just haven't been out in a while."

"You're on rotation, Colonel, just like every other SG team." General Landry reminded him.

"Yes, sir." Cam said, not completely successful at masking his dejection. Having his answer, like he'd had all week, Cam got up and made his way to the door.

"Actually, Colonel," General Landry called him back, hiding a grin at the hope on the other man's face.

"Yes, sir?"

"I'm going to need SG-1 to ship out tomorrow. Think you can assemble your team for a briefing?" he asked innocently.

"You got it, sir!" Cam beamed.

"One hour, Colonel. Dismissed."

"We'll be here, sir, thank you."

Cam left the office at breakneck speed to hunt down his crew.

* * *

An hour later saw the remaining members of SG-1 seated dutifully around the briefing table. General Landry took his seat at the end of the table and wasted no time in commencing the meeting.

"As you know, SG-13 has been stranded on P3Z-464 since last Wednesday," he said, not waiting for their confirmation to proceed. "The storm that they'd mentioned might keep them from the stargate has obviously lasted for a much longer time than expected."

"Or they were injured." Cam added.

"Right." General Landry agreed. "In any case, we've sent the  _Odyssey_  to the planet and it should be arriving sometime tomorrow, hopefully they're just too far from the gate to dial in. The  _Odyssey_  will beam them up and bring them back to Earth."

"Glad to hear it, sir, but how does that involve us?" Cam asked with as much impatience as he dared show in the presence of his superior officer.

"It involves you, Colonel, in the matter of a diplomatic mission SG-13 had scheduled for tomorrow on a planet called Tarkan." Landry replied.

"SG-13 on a diplomatic mission?" Daniel asked skeptically. Usually, for treaties and first contact, only the most experienced teams were sent out. It was rare for an SG team past number 10 was called for such work.

"Yes, they were requested specifically." the General said with a strange tone.

"The people of Tarkan have previously met with SG-13?" Teal'c asked.

"No, they haven't and that concerns me." Landry replied "They made contact with the Alpha Site and request to meet with SG-13 straight away. They say they want to establish a treaty and trade agreements but I'm more than a little wary of their motives."

"So you want us to go and check things out?" Cam presumed with a grin.

"That's right. I want to know what they wanted with SG-13 and what they want with us. You leave tomorrow morning at 0800 hours." General Landry spoke as he rose from his chair, his two Colonels following him up. "You're dismissed."

* * *

The next morning, Daniel was packing his laptop when he remembered that he'd never taken out Vala's recording from the disc drive. He reached for the "Open" button but his finger paused above it. If everything was on the level, General Landry expected them to stay a few days, even a week on this alien planet. He'd gone much longer periods without watching the tape but this  _was_  October. Daniel sighed with irony; there had been a time when he could barely tolerate her presence, now he couldn't even part with a digital recording of her. With that thought, he left the DVD in the driver and packed his laptop carefully into his bag before turning off the lights and locking his door.


	2. Friendship

The members of SG-1 had promptly arrived on Tarkan at 0800. They made their way down the well beaten path to the nearest village and were met by excited villagers who led them straight to their Chief's house, or mansion rather. The chief was a large man, fit for labour and probably better respected by his people because of it. Chief Elom Paitar's dark brows lifted over his clear blue eyes in surprise as he saw four aliens standing in his doorway but a wide smile overtook his features and he wasted no time ushering them in and calling for his wife. After sitting them at the long kitchen table, the burly chief fixed them drinks himself and sat down to go through introductions.

Apparently the people of Tarkan were in dire need of protection from the rising Goa'uld presence. They'd been protected during the Ori war due to their location at the other end of the galaxy but now that they were gone, the Goa'uld who used to terrorize them were slowly regaining their advantage.

"Oh, this must be SG-13." A short, plump woman with ink black hair and deep blue exclaimed as she entered the kitchen. "You've come a day early! Your eagerness to make new friends is quite impressive, especially given that we are a small planet with technology far inferior to your own."

"Well, Ma'am," Cam smiled back genially, "we know there's more to friendship than sharing toys."

"Actually dear," Chief Paitar interjected, "these people are from the Tau'ri but they are the primary team, SG-1, not SG-13. This is my wife, Simeri."

They all nodded in greeting, no one noticing the newly forced quality of Simeri's round-cheeked smile.

"You're not SG-13." she repeated pleasantly.

"Ah, no, they couldn't make it, they're trapped in a storm on another planet. They send their apologies though and hope to meet you once the treaty has been agreed upon." Daniel explained quickly, shooting a glance to the others. Simeri nodded before readopting her wide, warming smile.

"And you've come all this way in their stead. That's very kind of you." she praised them.

"It's our pleasure." Sam replied politely.

"Well," Simeri said, bringing her hands together, "I'll just get out of your way, I'm sure you've much to discuss and I have the children to look after. Until tonight." Seremi bid them all with a motherly smile.

"Until tonight, dear, and say hello to the children." Chief Paitar returned, watching his wife leave the kitchen. The high-pitched giggling of small girls came from out of sight and Elom's eyes looked for the source with moderate trepidation.

"Have you  _many_  children, Chief Paitar?" Teal'c asked. Elom looked surprised but understood the subtext.

"Oh no, I have but three." He grinned "My wife looks after the children of others nearby and  _some_  in particular have caused me more than a few white hairs. My own children are angels…in my presence in any case, my wife tells a different story." he chuckled. "And please, call me Elom, we are to become friends, aren't we? I have never found a need for strict formalities."

"Thank you, Elom." Daniel said, "Um, you said there was a-a council of sorts that we would be speaking with? When will we be meeting with them?"

The older man nodded a few times.

"Yes, well, although your early arrival is very well-met, the council is only prepared to meet tomorrow. The council is comprised of the chiefs of each of the fourteen villages surrounding the chappa'ai…your  _stargate_  I believe you called it…it is a half-day's journey for some of them. They will not arrive before noon tomorrow." Elom explained and the members of SG-1 gave each other disappointed glances.

"But as I said earlier, in my opinion it is a formidable show of character to be so eager to become allies with such a people so technologically inferior, I must insist that you stay and tour the village. We have much room in this house for guests and many of the local families are excited to meet the people who will ease their fears of the Goa'uld." Elom asked of them.

"We'd love to." Cam answered with as much enthusiasm as he could muster at the prospect of being paraded around a strange village as messiahs.

"Excellent, excellent!" Elom said brightly before calming down "I apologize if I seem too exuberant but you must understand that we have never held a hope of being free of the Goa'uld. They left some years ago and we thought they'd been vanquished but after we got word of a stronger power being destroyed, the false gods have returned and I know our planet will not be free much longer."

"We understand, and we'll help you in any way we can. We've always been opposed to the tyranny of the Goa'uld…and the Ori…and the Replicators…pretty much anyone trying to wipe out mankind." Daniel finished with a small frown.

Elom's eyebrows had slowly drifted upwards as Daniel spoke but they returned to their normal level as he nodded confidently.

"That is exactly what we have heard. Your reputation far precedes you." he praised none too subtly.

"Yeah," Sam said slowly, leaning forward in her chair "we've been meaning to ask you about that. Not that it really matters I guess but who is it that led you to us?"

The others looked to the Chief for his answer but his face had become carefully blank, his smile never faltering.

"We heard of you through a traveler passing our village some weeks ago. When they heard of our hardships, they recommended we seek out the Tau'ri. They said they'd seen your SG-13 arranging defensive technology on another world and that they…or you I suppose…might be willing to do the same for us." Elom spoke with less flair than he'd displayed so far.

"That's pretty fortunate." Cam remarked, keeping his tone light.

"Oh yes, quite so." Elom returned, joyfully slipping back into the warm man they'd met "But I was taught not to question good tidings."

There was an awkward silence after that but Elom didn't let it last long. He clapped his hands and pushed himself up from the table.

"Well, would you like to leave your bags here? We have just enough time for a walk through the village before the evening meal." he suggested.

"Sure, why not?" Cam agreed.

They walked up the old wooden staircase and came upon a long narrow hallway stretching out on both sides and each wing boasting four doors. At the end of the left corridor, they could see another staircase leading down, presumably to the back of the house. Just as Elom was about to escort them to their individual rooms, a loud shriek pierced through the walls of one of the closed doors. The startling sound was followed immediately by a little girl running out of the room, her eyes wide as saucers and obviously terrified.

Oblivious to her misery, Daniel's heart lurched in his chest as he took in the girl's black hair, pale skin and deep blue-grey eyes. He knew those eyes, they haunted him every night in his dreams…and in his nightmares. He'd been looking for those eyes for five years and here they were, on a little girl in a strange village.

The girl ran blindly until she bumped into Elom's legs, finally looking up with teary eyes and a trembling lip.

"Papa, it's going to eat me!" she cried as her father picked her up and held her comfortingly. This drew Daniel out of his stupefaction and he realized – feeling like an idiot for his erratic heartbeat – that those eyes belonged to Siremi, the child's mother, and no one else.

A laugh came from the open door and another girl came out with a few strands of black material hanging from her fingers. She had a mischievous smile on her face as she approached them.

"Jeneil, it's gonna get you!" she warned, throwing the black cloth around, eliciting another shriek from the girl.

"Talika, stop scaring your sister immediately." Elom chided the older girl. Talika stopped as soon as she heard his voice; the nine year old had been more focused on frightening her sister than her environment.

"Papa, we were just playing." she complained. Elom put Jeneil down and gave his daughters a hard look.

"Your sister is two years your junior, stop harassing her. And what were you doing in the guest quarters? You know it's forbidden to you." he demanded and both girls immediately looked to the floor in shame.

"Nejaya said there were cookies upstairs." Jeneil said, wiping away the tears from her reddened cheeks. Elom gave a heavy sigh.

"Nejaya is  _three_  years  _your_ junior, Jeneil! Why is it she can still trick you both?" he asked his younger daughter. Both stayed silent during the interrogation and Elom sighed again, remembering his prestigious guests and turning to them in apology.

"I'm very sorry you had to be witness to their misconduct." Elom apologized with slight embarrassment. "I'm afraid I'll have to leave you for a moment to return these girls to their mother. You may choose any room you like, they are all empty and were cleaned this morning."

"That's fine, Elom, we'll be okay on our own." Sam told him understandingly. The Chief looked relieved at her answer, or perhaps at her demeanor, the last thing he wanted was to annoy his alien guests.

"Thank you." he replied with a slight bow, taking the girls by their shoulders and turning them around "If I'm not back before you've arranged your belongings in your rooms, please feel free to return to the kitchen and take something to eat and drink. I'll return as soon as I've found my wife."

"See you then." Cameron said, giving a small wave to the girls as they were shepherded out of the corridor and down the stairs at the end.

Turning back to his team, Cam grinned wide.

"Cute kids." he remarked.

"Yeah." Sam smiled, merriment alight in her eyes "Is it just me or did they kind of remind you of…" she cut herself off too late to keep them all from wincing.

"Vala." Daniel said with a wistful smile. "They looked a lot like Vala."

"That was  _my_  first thought anyway." Cam agreed cautiously and they stood in silence for a moment.

"Should we not pick our rooms?" Teal'c suggested and they all broke up to do just that. They dumped their backpacks keeping only their weapons, water and radios with them before moving back down the stairs and taking seats at the kitchen table to wait on their host. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before the sound of light footsteps reached their ears. Someone was coming but it was unlikely to be Elom.

They were right; after a hesitant peek around the corner, a small girl of about four years old bounced into the kitchen with a smile stretching from ear to ear. This one also had ebony hair and pale skin but her eyes, though blue, were not deep but rather a sparkling, clear blue shining mischievously. She was undoubtedly Elom's third daughter.

"Hey there." Cam greeted with a grin.

"Hey there." she mimicked him with a smile. Her blue eyes flicked between the strangers and the counter before she skipped up to the table and pulled a chair over to her destination. With great effort, and with Daniel, being nearest to her, poised to jump and catch her should she fall, the girl heaved herself up and started exploring the countertop. There wasn't a jar left unopened nor a drawer left undrawn but she was very careful to return things to the condition in which she found them.

"Should you really be pokin' in there?" Cameron asked cautiously as she got up on her knees to open the cabinets. He never liked parenting strangers' kids but he wasn't about to let her hurt herself either.

"Yes," she replied matter-of-factly, never ceasing her search "I need to find the cookies."

The teammates grinned at each other and Daniel got up from his chair to stand beside her as a precaution when she rose unsteadily to stand on the counter.

"I'm guessing your name is Nejaya?" Sam asked. The girl turned her head for a moment but nodded.

"You sent the other girls to search for the cookies in the guest bedrooms." Teal'c stated. Nejaya turned her head again but slowly this time and with gleeful eyes.

"If they came with me, I'd have to share." she answered him as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Nejaya maneuvered herself around the sink but the hem of her gray dress caught on the handle of one of the cupboard and she was jerked backwards and lost her footing. Every adult in the room felt their heart seize in panic but before Daniel could lunge to catch her, Nejaya had thrown out a hand and caught hold of the edge of a cupboard. She regained her balance and smiled impishly at her audience.

"Listen, I somehow doubt that you're supposed to be in here, especially looking for junk food, so how about you come down and we won't tell your parents?" Daniel tried to negotiate before she killed herself.

Nejaya paused her renewed search at his words and turned to face him with a frown.

"You don't want to be a tattle-tale." she countered but Daniel just shrugged.

"I can live with it. Those are my terms, take it or leave it." he offered again. She kept her ice blue eyes on him and he returned the stare, refusing to back down.

"Okay." she sighed with resignation before holding her arms out for him to take her off the countertop. He gave his own sigh and picked her up under the arms, setting her carefully on the floor.

Daniel sat back down in his chair around the table and they all watched as Nejaya carefully smoothed out the skirt of her dress and ran her fingers through her loose black hair before pulling her chair back to its place at the table and sitting down on it, her chin barely reached the table. She sat up straighter but could only hold the pose for so long. Nejaya sighed in annoyance and got up once more, climbed onto the table and sat cross-legged there.

"Hi." Nejaya said, somewhat shy now that she wasn't busy looking for her prize.

"Hi." Sam replied with a smile. "My name is Sam, this is Cam, Teal'c and Daniel you've met." she grinned though it faltered a bit when Nejaya crawled across the table to sit in front of Sam, her legs dangling onto the woman's lap.

"Your hair is yellow," Nejaya noted, all traces of shyness gone as she touched Sam's short locks "we don't have many yellow heads on Tarkan. Where are you from?"

"Uh, we're from Earth…you've probably never heard of it before." she added, when Nejaya pulled her hand away.

"You're the Tau'ri?" she asked, her wide eyes curious.

"Or maybe she  _has_  heard of us." Cam droned, earning Nejaya's gaze. "We're like the Second Coming, the Chief has probably been advertising all week."

Nejaya wore a pensive look before nodding strongly and crawling over to Teal'c.

"He has, he speaks of the Tau'ri  _aaaallll_  the time, even in his sleep." she told Cameron with great authority before pointing at Teal'c's gold emblem.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It is a symbol of my past obedience and servitude to Apophis of the Goa'uld." he said deeply. His voice and stern countenance frightened most children but Nejaya was too fascinated by the symbol to notice.

"The false gods." she noted wisely before tapping the gold twice with her index. "But they've fallen, why don't you take it off? I'll take it if you don't want it." she suggested brightly.

"I would do so if I could, Nejaya, but the gold is branded to me. To take it off would be extremely painful." Teal'c replied honestly. Nejaya seemed unconcerned.

"My mother is a healer, she could fix you up if you gave the gold to her." she pointed out and Teal'c's lips quirked up ever so slightly.

"I will keep the emblem, Nejaya." he said finally and watched in amusement as the girl pouted and shuffled over to Daniel.

"What about these? Are they worth anything?" she asked, tapping on the lenses of his glasses before swiping them off his nose.

"No. Can I have them back please? I need them." Daniel asked Elom's daughter with his trademark furrowed brow.

"Why? What do they do?" she asked inquisitively, spinning the frames and holding them up to the light.

"They help me to see better." Daniel said, his tone amused. He held his hand out for the glasses to be returned but the little girl had no such intentions.

"Really?" she asked skeptically. Nejaya put the glasses on her nose like Daniel had but she couldn't see better at all.

"You're lying. I see worse now." She accused him. "And they hurt my eyes!"

Daniel stole back his glasses with a grin while she rubbed her eyes through her closed lids.

"It hurts because  _you_  can see well, you aren't supposed to wear glasses. My eyes don't see well so they help me." he explained patiently.

When she opened her eyes again they bore through him suspiciously but she let the matter go and refocused her attention on his uniform. She opened his vest pocket and closed it again rapidly before moving on to the next trinket on his jacket. Daniel tried to grab her hands but she was extremely fast and he didn't want to hurt her. Meanwhile, the other three at the table weren't even hiding their grins at his unease.

"Nejaya, would you…please stop." he asked her and surprisingly, she complied. When he looked down, he saw her hand hovering near his right shoulder. She fingered the edge of the round team patch with awed eyes before wrapping her hand around it and tearing the patch off of its Velcro base.

"That's my team's badge." Daniel told her. He wasn't used to children or childish behaviour anymore and that, coupled with Nejaya's reverent blue eyes, was making him feel much more indulgent than he was used to.

She was quiet as she fingered the lettering and the design.

"It's missing the '3'." she said finally.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Look," she pointed, showing him the space after the '1', "it's missing a '3'. Can I keep it?"

"No," Daniel replied with a smirk, grabbing the patch back "you may  _not_."

"But it's no good if it's broken!" she tried to convince him, shooting her hand out to steal it again. Daniel pushed her hand away lightly and they went back and forth like that, Nejaya giggling harder the more Daniel resisted.

"It's not broken, Nejaya." Daniel informed her with a grin. "My team is called SG-1, not SG-13."

At that, Nejaya stopped reaching for the patch and leaned back on the table.

"You're SG-1?" Nejaya asked quietly "Truly?"

"Yes." Daniel replied just as quietly but much more curiously. "Why?"

She looked back up at Daniel, her eyes full of wonder but more apprehension.

"You shouldn't have come." she said gravely, her blue eyes solemn.

"What?" he asked, frowning and shooting the rest of his team a questioning glance. "Why not?"

" _Nejaya_!" Siremi exclaimed firmly from the doorway, startling them all. Her stormy blue eyes shifted nervously from the girl on the table to the people seated around it until she marched forward and scooped her up.

"I'm very sorry, she…she knows she isn't allowed to-to speak to people she does not know." Siremi said quickly, turning back to the door with Nejaya in her arms "I will see you at the evening meal."

Nejaya didn't protest as she was carried out but her sparkling blue eyes were worried.

"What the hell was that all about?" Cam asked. Before anyone could make an attempt at an answer, Elom reappeared with a bright smile.

"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting." he apologized "I hope I haven't wasted too much of your time."

"Not at all." Sam said politely before grinning "Your daughter was keeping us entertained."

"Oh!" he grinned "You've met Lelia! Fantastic, that will save us the trouble of introductions later on."

"Um…no, another one I guess, Nejaya?" Daniel posed.

"Oh," Elom replied, suddenly concerned, "she wasn't bothering you, was she?"

"No, no, not really." Daniel replied truthfully.

"Oh good." Elom said with evident relief "She's not one of mine, that one. She's the daughter of my wife's friend. Sweet girl but always causing mischief."

"Oh, we just assumed…" Cam started and Elom nodded intuitively.

"Yes, she does look remarkably like my daughters, doesn't she? They're always mistaken for siblings." He remarked before clapping his hands. "Well, shall we go? The town is waiting!"

"Lead the way." Cameron said and the man joyfully complied, sauntering past them and beckoning them outside. He'd already waved down two neighbours before they'd left the house.

 


	3. Turbulence

Daniel let out an exhausted sigh as he sunk into the strange mattress of his temporary room. Chief Elom had made good on his promise to introduce them to the villagers and by the end of the night, SG-1 felt as though their hands had been shook by ever single inhabitant of this little planet. The banquet had allowed them to sit but not to rest. They'd been dispersed into the crowd at the table to further mingle with the villagers and mingle they had, to the point where Daniel felt he'd barely had time to eat anything he had talked so much. It had been particularly uncomfortable when Siremi had shown up. She avoided them like the plague and when she was forced into interacting with them she was distant, overly polite, and would never meet their eyes. The children had been allowed to join the festivities but were segregated from the adults with older children to watch over them. Daniel had only briefly spotted a few he recognized but his eyes lingered on the little girl who'd entertained them earlier, Nejaya. She hadn't even looked their way but simply watching her play with the others had somehow revived his weary spirits at least for a short while.

For a moment, Daniel contemplated sleeping in his BDU's and boots but his common sense won out and he pushed himself upright with a groan. As he bent over to untie his shoe laces, a familiar tickle rose from his throat and he erupted in a series of coughs. He had talked himself raw this evening and now he was feeling it. Hopefully tomorrow he'd have laryngitis and the others would have to take over the proceedings with the council. He sighed again. No, he couldn't do that to them. They always counted on him for the peace talks. Served him right for getting so good at it. He figured he should probably get something to drink from the kitchen, he was sure no one would mind. Retying his laces, Daniel made it to his door just in time to hear a squeal reverberate through very thin walls of the house.

"Mama!" A little girl shrieked with delight, no doubt one of the young children Siremi kept. It was rather late in the night to be picking up their child but who was he to judge. Daniel stayed by the door, deciding to wait until the mother and daughter left before getting his drink, he really didn't feel like another introduction...or getting caught alone with Siremi and her new personality.

"Hello, gorgeous." A painfully familiar voice replied. For an excrutiatingly long moment, Daniel's heart was torn between believing he'd heard the voice in real time and choosing the more likely probability that one of the guys was playing the DVD he'd brought. Almost in tandem, three doors down the hall opened and his hand moved quickly to the doorknob to open his own.

"Did you guys hear-" Cam started in a rush, his eyes shifting between them.

"Yeah, was anyone playing-" Sam interrupted him and their simultaneous negative reply interrupted her. "So..."

For long, uncertain moments, they stood there unsure of how to proceed. As they heard the murmur of more conversation downstairs, the silent decision was made. Their hearts in their throats but their rationality keeping them quiet, the four members of SG-1 all but flew down the wooden stairs. As they approached the kitchen door, they slowed their steps, Cam given them hand signals like it was just another mission. It made sense, four people barging into their hosts' kitchen in the dead of night would probably not be wise. But Daniel's hands were shaking from the revival of the hope he thought he'd buried long ago. They slowly made their way into the last stretch and paused to hear the voices beyond.

* * *

"Mama!" Her young daughter cried upon seeing her.

"Hello, gorgeous." The exhausted woman greeted warmly, stooping down to pick Nejaya up and she ran towards her. She hugged the small girl's body to her own and peppered her face and hair with exaggerated kisses causing her to giggle. "How have you been?"

"Good." Nejaya replied, still laughing.

"Have you been behaving yourself?" She asked, directing her question more to the woman whose care in which she'd entrusted her daughter while she'd accompanied the village hunting party.

"Almost an angel, as always." Siremi replied, a true smile gracing her face for the first time in hours.

"Almost?" Vala mock-gasped, turning her daughter in her arms to face her. "Almost??" She asked again, poking Nejaya's sides to tickle her. The little girl shrieked in her mother's arms and struggled to get away from the attack.

"Shh, darling, you'll wake the whole house up." Vala chuckled, ceasing her tickling and straightening the girl in her arms. "Now tell me what you've done to deserve such a demotion in reputation."

Nejaya stayed quiet, choosing to play with the ends of her mother's long black hair instead of answering.

"She was speaking to people she shouldn't have." Siremi informed her friend, seriousness taking over her voice and expression. Vala looked at her questioningly, instinctively tightening her grip on the daughter who could have been taken away by strangers. "The Tau'ri came today."

"What?" Vala exclaimed, her eyes widening. "They're a day early!"

"I know." Siremi said, grabbing Nejaya's bags from the staircase and putting in a few items that had been left out.

"We were supposed to be far away from here by the time they came." Vala rambled nervously, shifting Nejaya onto her hip to help Siremi with the bags.

"I know, dear." Her old friend said sympathetically. "And you'll not like the rest."

"What?" Vala asked slowly. She had a feeling Siremi would be right.

"They were SG-1, mama." Nejaya piped up helpfully from her side. Vala immediately felt lightheaded. Her arms lost all strength and she immediately set her daughter on the floor before she dropped her.

"They were who?" Vala whispered, her heard thudding in her ears. Siremi pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and guided her to it.

"SG-1, Vala. They're here instead of SG-13." Siremi told her softly. She had not been looking forward to this conversation.

"They're...here." Vala echoed, pointing dumbly down at the tabletop. Both her friend and daughter nodded. "And she was...you were talking to them?" She asked Nejaya worriedly. The small girl knew she was in trouble and preferred to stay quiet.

"I got her out of here as soon as I found her. They probably just thought she was one of mine. You know they all look so much alike." Siremi tried to reassure her.

Vala looked at her daughter, her head almost in a fog. She ran her fingers through her soft, black hair and passed her thumb over her rounded cheeks. Those eyes though, those blue eyes weren't anything like Siremi's or Elom's.

"We have to get out of here." Vala declared abruptly. She hurriedly gathered the toys on the table, pulling out the ones that didn't belong to them.

"Mama?" Nejaya's tiny voice called to her, worried by her mother's distress. Vala stopped her frantic motions and plastered a warm smile on her face.

"Naya, darling," she began softly, using her daughter's nickname to put her at ease, "go say goodnight to Uncle Elom, okay? We're going on our trip a little sooner than planned."

Nejaya caught on to the rushed mood and hurried out of the kitchen to find her surrogate uncle but her haste made her unable to stop when she ran into someone in the hallway. Looking up, her eyes widened significantly as she found someone she had been forbidden to talk to.

"Hey, kid." The man said awkwardly.

With her mother right in the next room and seemingly panicking, she found the urge to behave much easier to follow this time. Nejaya turned on her heels and ran back into the kitchen as though the Goa'uld themselves were on her heels.

"Woah, where're you goin'?" He called after her but she didn't look back.

She didn't slow down as she reached the women in the kitchen and her momentum plowed her into her mother's legs.

"Mama, they're here." She said, looking up as she hugged her mother's hips. The fear in her mother's eyes just then terrified her.

Sure enough, not a moment after Nejaya ran into her, four people she now considered strangers walked in and her body betrayed her completely. As her eyes passed them over in a rapid scan, she could feel a traitorous joy as she found the familiar faces that had once meant so much to her. But she hated them, she'd rid herself from any lingering sadness when thinking of them, they'd betrayed her! She tore her eyes away from them and assumed an expression of hardened dignity as she stuffed her daughter's things in her bag and zipped it up to leave. She swung it over her shoulder and turned around, the air around her thick with determination.

"Thank you, Siremi, we'll see you when we get back." Vala said, securing her eyes on her friend's to avoid the others. "Nejaya say goodbye to your aunt."

"Goodbye." She said softly, her attention not as easily detracted from SG-1.

"Goodnight, Naya, Vala." Siremi greeted warmly, trying to end this situation as easily as possible. SG-1 had other things in mind. They had stood in stunned silence, simply watching the woman they'd feared dead or at least lost to them forever as she puttered around the kitchen, a miniature version of herself following her every move. They had so much to say, they wanted to rush up to her and make sure she was real, but the reaction she'd had to them reminded them that she hadn't spent years missing them. They had never known the details of her altered memories but the point had been to make her want to leave the SGC and there was really only one reason she would go.

Now though, as the woman they'd lost made her way to the door to leave them again, something powerful bubbled up in Daniel and he quickly moved to block the way.

"Dr. Jackson." Siremi exclaimed from the other side of the room, how dare he act so rudely to the woman he'd hurt.

"Get out of the way." Vala ground out, looking at a point over his right shoulder.

"I can't." He whispered, a shaky smile growing on his face. He was overjoyed at simply having her talk to him.

" _Move_ , Daniel." She bit at him, staring him down, willing herself not to show any emotion while she read the ones so clear on his face.

"I can't." He repeated softly, shaking his head. "I can't let you leave again, not again." She almost broke at the pleading tone in his voice...if it hadn't been for his words...

"As I recall it, nobody  _let_  me leave." She glowered at him, her face aching to morph into a sneer. "I had to _escape_  like a  _prisoner_  from my own ho-" Vala cut herself off as she saw Sam, Cam and Teal'c approach them in her periphery. She tightened her hand over Nejaya's and drew the girl closer to her before sweeping her glare over them.

"Conduct the alliance agreement with the council tomorrow and then  _leave_." She ordered them, repressed fury evident in her voice. "Don't ever come back here. You're not welcome."

"You're the one who told them to contact the SGC." Sam clued in, opting for a neutral topic for her first conversation with her former friend. Vala squared her jaw against the familiar warmth that swept through her at Sam's joy of discovery.

"The people of this planet need protection from the Goa'uld. They don't need you, simply your technology which can be passed along by any other team." Vala dismissed them.

"Listen, you don't understand." Cam tried to turn her by placing his hand on her shoulder but she almost violently pushed him off. He backed off with a heavy heart but pushed on. "It was all part of the plan."

"Plan?" Vala exclaimed incredulously. "Plan!? It was part of a plan to sweep me off to Area 51 for the rest of my life? Adria told me herself that she didn't send me those dreams so you had  _no_  valid reason to think I was a threat to your precious security!"

"THAT was the plan, for you to run into Adria." Cam replied heatedly.

"Oh, well isn't that so much better?" Vala returned sarcastically. "Well now that I know you didn't just throw me away for nothing, that you did it to push me into my dau-" Vala cut herself off again, looking down nervously at Nejaya before continuing with malice, "into Adria's awaiting clutches, I'm just ever so relieved."

"We have been looking for you for quite some time." Teal'c told her, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Oh and don't I know it." Vala sneered at him. "It wasn't enough to ruin my life on Earth but you had to track me down across the galaxy to rub it in? Do you know how difficult it is to be on the run while pregnant?" She ranted against them. She was trying to contain herself, she really was, but she was full of unleashed anger and they were clawing away at her emotional walls.

"Yeah, about that," Cameron started, looking down at Nejaya with questions in his eyes.

"No! You have no right to ask about her." Vala snapped at him, pressing Nejaya into her side. "Come to think of it, you have no right to speak to me."

With that, she fixed her coldest, soul-piercing glare on Daniel and spoke in icy tones.

"Stay away from me, stay away from my daughter, and once your dealings with these people are over with, stay the hell away from my planet." After a lingering moment to let her seriousness sink in, she pushed her way past his numb form and walked out the door, pulling Nejaya out by the hand. Daniel fought against the crushing feeling of their exchange and looked down just as Nejaya's clear blue eyes shot a last parting glance at the people who'd upset her mother.

Teal'c moved behind him to properly close the door behind their friend as the cogs in Daniel's head turned. Then, with a thunderbolt of clarity his mind stumbled upon a way to make the pieces of this situation fit and he felt sick.

"Oh my god." He mumbled. He had no time to linger on his thoughts though as Siremi's voice cut through their sadness.

"You should not have done that." She chastised them, angry with them for having upset one of her closest friends. "She came here to escape you and took a  _big_  risk by telling us about you for our protection. If you ever cared about her you would leave her be."

"We can't do that." Sam returned, pleading with her to understand. "We didn't do anything wrong, she just doesn't remember it that way."

"I've heard all about what you did to that girl. If it weren't for my husband, I would throw you out of this house." Siremi returned sincerely. "Unlike you, I know full well where my loyalties lie."

"Listen, lady, you don't know what you think you know." Cam replied defensively. "As a matter of fact, neither does Vala."

"What?" Siremi asked, confused by his jumble of words.

"It was part of a plan, part of  _Vala's_  plan." Daniel said determinately, someone would know the truth tonight. "She underwent a process that altered her memories so that when she was found by Adria, the Orici, she wouldn't be able to see that she was lying to her. Then Vala would unwittingly lead her to the ambush location where we'd capture Adria and bring Vala home."

"But Vala didn't make it to the rendez-vous site, Adria had her brought to her ship instead and came to us alone." Sam filled in the rest as Daniel remained quiet. Siremi looked into their faces and saw honesty but she would not easily be swayed from her hatred of these people,  _she_  would not betray Vala.

"And I am simply supposed to believe this story? Vala is supposed to believe it?" She asked them sardonically. "On your word..."

Daniel's head snapped up and he was renewed with a tentative excitement.

"You don't have to take our word for it. Take Vala's." He told her before rushing out of the room, leaving the rest of them bewildered. It was clear to the team, however, when Daniel came back with his laptop in hand. He set it up on the kitchen table and popped in a DVD he took from his pocket.

"Just watch." He told Siremi as she sat down in front of the screen.

" _Hello, gorgeous."_

The Tarkanan woman was shocked to see Vala speaking to her from the screen. Not so much the fact  _that_  she was on the screen but rather the difference between this Vala and the one she knew. This Vala was younger, much more vibrant, and apparently much happier than the one who'd just left her house and it hurt her heart to see how the past years had so affected her.

Siremi and the team watched the vid in its entirety and no one spoke after it ended to give her time to process this new information.

"We never betrayed her." Daniel finally said, willing her to believe him. "This whole mess was a mistake and we've been looking for her for years to try to fix it." Siremi looked up at him, trying to find a hint of a lie somewhere in any of their eyes. She almost wanted them to be lying because the idea of Vala hurting needlessly for so long made her heart ache. Alas, she had to believe these aliens, though she did so grudgingly.

"I won't try to stop you from seeing her but I won't plead with her on your behalf. It's up to you to convince her." Siremi declared, seeing a mild hope ghost through their faces. "But you do it privately, especially from Nejaya. I won't have you distressing her, she's too young."

"We do not mean to cause anyone distress." Teal'c assured her.

"I'm sure you didn't mean to five years ago either, look how that turned out." Siremi reminded them darkly. They couldn't reply to that, she was right.

"Give her the night with her daughter, she's been away for almost a week." She ordered them, rising and closing the laptop.

"And we still have the meeting with the council to focus on." Cam said, bringing their responsibilities back to the forefront of their minds. "We can try again after that."

"That is a wise idea." Siremi nodded. "I need to retire for the night. I do need you to know that although I truly hope for this matter to be resolved, you had best be sure you cause those two no further harm than you already have."

"We won't." Daniel said. He couldn't promise that but it was honestly the last thing he'd ever want to do. Siremi nodded and left for her bedroom with a final greeting of "Goodnight."

"We should contact the General tomorrow and tell him what's going on." Sam said to dispel the solemn silence of the room.

"Yeah, I get the feeling we're in for a few rough days." Cam said with an attempt at a wry grin.

"Of course we are." Daniel said, his stomach churning at the idea of screwing up the next few days. "When have things ever been easy with Vala?"

"We found her." Cam said, catching on to the simple truth.

"Yeah we did." Daniel replied, his frown lessening.

"Well then, let's get our beauty rest, people. We've got a princess to bring back to the castle tomorrow." Cam announced cheerfully.

"It's a shame we forgot the white horse and armour back on Earth." Sam deadpanned.

"Careful Rapunzel, we might just use your hair to rope her in." Cam teased her. "Besides, we don't need the glitz and glamour, Cyrano here can just serenade her from the window."

"Are you calling me a skilled charmer or a moderately disfigured man?" Daniel narrowed his eyes at his team leader. Cam laughed and clapped him on the back, pushing him towards the stairs.

"Why do you think I keep calling it 'beauty sleep', some of us clearly need it." He replied with a smirk.

"Says the man who looks enough like me to confuse strangers." Daniel retorted.

"Ah yes...well I hadn't thought that one through." Cam admitted sheepishly. Daniel rolled his eyes as they reached their rooms.

"Goodnight, guys." He sent them before entering his room. This time, it was with a hopeful heart and a wide smile that he lowered himself onto his mattress. Tomorrow would be a good day no matter what happened, as long as he saw her again. Her and Nejaya.

* * *

Across town, Vala was making an effort to act like the cheerful mother she usually was for Nejaya but she had a feeling was wasn't quite succeeding.

"Is this going to be a short sleep?" Her daughter asked her.

"No, darling, we can take our time tomorrow morning, sleep in a little." Vala assured her, helping her into her bed. "The forest isn't going anywhere, we'll have plenty of time for our adventure. Besides, mama is tired from her long trip."

"Did you catch anything?" Nejaya asked curiously, always excited to hear stories of her mother's exploits.

"Oh plenty. You've never seen such an immense gathering of wild fowl, I bet all the meat could cover the entire village." Vala exaggerated comically.

"No it wouldn't!" Her daughter replied laughingly.

"It would so." Vala returned, sticking out her tongue. "I'm your mother, you're supposed to believe everything I tell you." Nejaya had no reply to that but her smile told Vala she wasn't buying it. Vala pulled the covers out from under her daughter and wrapped her in them snugly before sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Today must have been pretty confusing for you." She started, hating to see the smile leave the girl's face.

"The bad people came instead of the good ones." Nejaya tried to summarize and Vala winced.

"They're not... _bad_...people." Vala said with much difficulty. While she couldn't forgive their disloyalty, she knew they were and always would do what they believed was right. "Mama just had a very big fight with them before you were born."

"Can't you just apologize?" Her daughter asked her innocently through a yawn.

"I'm not the one who did anything wrong, darling." Vala tried to explain.

"You made me apologize to Lelia when I broke her doll and I didn't mean to." Nejaya pointed out sullenly and Vala snorted.

"Naya, my love, whether you meant to actually break it or not, throwing it into the fire was wrong." Vala chided her daughter gently. "And I'm afraid it'll take more than an apology from anyone to fix this fight."

"You don't like them anymore?" Her sleepy little girl pressed sadly. Vala brushed Nejaya's black bangs off her face and tucked her in more as she considered her answer.

"No, I don't." She lied with a pathetic attempt at a smile. She bent over and kissed Nejaya's forehead before getting up again.

"Sweet dreams, Naya." She murmured, getting a mumbled reply from her daughter as she fell rapidly into sleep. Vala watched her sleep for a few moments before turning off the lamp at her bedside and quietly making her way out the door. She made her way down the hall and into her own empty bedroom where she sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. She hated this feeling.

She'd spent years on this planet, living the simple life, raising Nejaya, becoming part of this community. For years she hadn't given them more than a few minutes of thought every once in a while. Now they were here, sleeping not a block away, and this torrent of emotion was begging to be released. She had never given herself the time to mourn the loss of her pseudo family and now it was coming to get her. She missed Teal'c and the loyalty she thought would never waiver. He'd been such a calming presence, and usually supported her when it came to Goa'uld matters. It had been something significant to her when she was usually shot down. She missed Cameron with his unyielding enthusiasm. She remembered how he had doggedly followed her when she'd lost her memory at Athena's hand, and how proud he'd seemed to welcome her into his team when she'd been brought back. She missed Samantha who treated her like a proper girlfriend once she'd warmed up to her. Their shopping trips, their girl's nights, how she had comforted her after Jacek let her down once again. She'd never had a female friend she could truly trust before, she supposed she never really did.

And Daniel...too much of the whirlwind emotions she felt were incited by the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes. She'd spent years forgetting she ever knew him and now she was assaulted by every moment she'd ever spent with him. A lot of them weren't pleasant but most of them were. The way he'd tried to be there for her when Adria had caused mixed emotions, the way he'd vouched for her inclusion on the team, the non-date he'd taken her on, the way he'd held her when they'd found her in that warehouse. It had only been her and Nejaya all these years but she'd never ever felt as lonely as she did that moment. If Daniel were to walk into her room right now, she was certain she'd forgive him everything for the chance to just be near him again.

That was why, still dressed in her day clothes, Vala forced herself to lie down on her bed and let her tears overcome her until exhausted finally brought sleep. Tomorrow would come quickly and she and her daughter would be long gone before her former friends could hurt her again.

 


	4. An Accomplice

Daniel woke up tired the next morning. His mind hadn't allowed him more than a few moments of peace at a time; if he wasn't  _dreaming_  about Vala, he was kept awake by  _thoughts_  of her, and especially about the last time they saw each other.

* * *

" _Vala!" Daniel called to her as he caught up with his fast-walking teammate in the hallway. He saw her shoulders slump as she sighed but she did stop walking._

" _Yes, Daniel?" She asked bitingly. She knew why he was following her. Obviously he didn't know what was good for him because she was furious with him at the moment._

" _I just want to talk to you." He tried to say diplomatically but she turned on her heels and stomped off again._

" _I think you made your feelings perfectly clear. I don't see what else you want to_ talk _about." She grounded out, feeling the vice around her heart tightened as she recalled how he'd all but blown up in front of the team about how her idea was stupid and the plan would never work._

" _Well obviously I didn't since you're still going through with it!" He threw back, following her down the hall._

" _Funny, I don't remember when your opinion became the law. It shouldn't matter anyway, I'm just a thief, what do I care about the law." She retorted sarcastically._

" _Vala, would you wait?" Daniel asked her, trying to grab her arm to hold her back but she kept shoving him off._

" _Wait for what?" She returned, her tone deceptively light. "Wait to be told that I can't be trusted to do this? Wait to be told you have absolutely zero faith in me? I thought we covered all of that. Remember, back in the briefing when we had an audience?"_

_Daniel winced. He hadn't mean to go off on her then but he hadn't really been aware of their friends once General Landry approved the plan._

" _Look I'm sorry about that." He said with all sincerity as she slowed to a halt. She turned around, her arms crossed, a glare pinning him across the hallway._

" _Sorry about what you said, or where you said it?" Vala questioned him, her voice quiet despite her anger. His silence told her everything she needed to know._

" _I can't support you in this." Daniel put his foot down, foolishly hoping that would change her mind._

" _Well, I can't say I'll miss what I apparently never had." Vala told him. She knew the hurt was obvious in her face - she'd been having a harder and harder time hiding her feelings around him as time went on - but she wasn't about to stick around to give him the satisfaction of seeing the product of his work._

" _Where are you going?" He asked her tiredly._

" _Out." She bit, not looking back._

" _Topside?" He pressed incredulously. That was it._

" _Yes, topside, Daniel." She snapped, turning back to stalk towards him as her fury swelled up again. "Topside where I'm allowed to go now. I've earned that right and some people actually back up their faith in me concretely instead of throwing pretty, flowery words and rescinding that faith later on. Despite what you may think, some people on this base_ actually _trust me after over a year of helping you, of not scamming anyone, of risking my life to help you and your cause!"_

" _It has nothing to do with not trusting you!" He yelled back, shoving the finger she'd been accusing him with aside and ignoring the airmen trying to discretely pass them in the hallway. "It has to do with it being a_ ridiculous _plan that hinges on you doing what you're supposed to! But hey, what am I worrying about? You're just Little Miss Predictable, aren't you?"_

_Vala's eyes narrowed at him and he could see her clench her jaw._

" _I do what needs to be done when it's important." She returned angrily._

" _Yeah well you won't_ know _what's important after you get your memory wiped! And we won't be there to save the day when you screw up!" Daniel stressed with frustration._

" _When!?" She echoed incredulously._

" _Oh come on, Vala." He scoffed. "You honestly think nothing will go wrong after we dump you on a hostile, alien planet with your memory wiped? Because things went so well after Athena did it, right?"_

" _First of all," Vala bit out, counting on her finger, "I was on Earth when that happened and I wasn't raised around societies like yours. The planet Adria will be on is one I'm familiar with, people that think like I do."_

" _Thieves and con artists." Daniel interjected with a derisive tone. Vala took a deep breath, resisted the urge to find another fire extinguisher and continued._

" _Secondly, even without any knowledge about your world, its customs and without ANY knowledge whatsoever of who I was, I managed to do just fine for myself!" She pointed out. "I had a job, a place to stay,_ friends _! Which is a lot more than I find myself having now." She continued despite his eye rolling. "And we won't be erasing my entire memory, just the part about how I left Earth."_

" _And then you'll be walking right into the path of your psychotic daughter whom you didn't exactly leave on peaceful terms last time! Am I the only one who remembers her aiming at you before I pushed you out of the way?" Daniel's voice rose as he reached his argument again. "You'd be dead now if it wasn't for me!"_

" _She doesn't_ have _to like me, she just has to_ believe  _me!" Vala yelled back, ignoring the rest of his rant._

" _And what if she decides to kill you when you're done your little chit-chat? Huh?" Daniel pressed, stepping forward and forcing her back._

" _It won't come to that." Vala said assertively._

" _Because you know her so well?" He scoffed again in disbelief. "You're not the one who spent weeks with her. She's insane and when you get past that first, outer layer there's just more insane, no gushy warm stuff in the center."_

" _You would know, wouldn't you?" Vala returned, her eyes steely. Daniel sighed with irritation as he realized they were off-topic but she brought them back to it. "And it won't come to that because I'm not that stupid."_

_Again he snorted and she glared at him, stepping forward in defiance and bringing her finger up again to stab him in the shoulder as she moved._

" _I've survived decades out there without any of you, without anyone at all! I'm not going to turn into a simpering idiot just because you're not there! I know that world, Daniel, a hell of a lot better than I know this one." She seethed, staring him down. "I don't need you. I will do just fine without you. Better probably, without your constant nagging and seemingly tenuous faith."_

_With that, she tore herself away and stomped down the hall without looking back._

" _Well good!" He yelled after her angrily. "Cuz I won't be there! And don't expect me to come save you when you screw up 'cause I don't need you either! I'll welcome the peace!"_

_She never looked back before she rounded the corner and he knew he'd screwed up._

* * *

Cameron's knocking shook him out of him painful memories.

"Yo, Jackson, wakey wakey." He called from the other side of the door. "I was just kidding about that beauty sleep stuff. It's what's inside that counts, honest."

Daniel rolled his eyes, a small smile on his lips as he got up to answer the door.

"I was already up." He told his team leader after opening the door. "And don't kid yourself, I was always the pretty one."

"So's that make me the jock?" Cam asked with a roguish smile as Daniel grabbed his gear.

"I don't think so." Daniel reported with mock sympathy.

"What?" Cam returned from the doorway, scandalized. "I was the star quarterback in high school."

"Yeah, well we're a long way from high school. Some more than others." Daniel returned, fighting his grin. "And Teal'c could tackle you without even raising a sweat."

"That's true." Cam agreed with a disheartened sigh.

"Besides," Daniel spoke as they left his room, unable to resist one final jab, "I can't really see cheerleaders fawning over you."

"Now that's just crazy talk." Cam declared as Sam came out of her room. "Sam!"

"Hey, morning." She greeted them with a smile, already geared up.

"You'd fawn over me, right?" Cam asked. She would have been caught off-guard if she hadn't heard their debate all the way into her room.

"Sorry, I don't think so." She said, shrugging apologetically and winking discretely to Teal'c as he joined them in the hallway.

"What? Have you no taste?" Cam argued, slack-jawed.

"And she's not a cheerleader anyway." Daniel interjected as Cam tried to nurse his pride. "She's the smart one."

"Well then who's the cheerleader? We've got the pretty boy, the jock, the smart one, we need a bimbo cheerleader or a foreign exchange kid." Cam declared definitively. His team all stared at him meaningfully. "Oh hell no."

"Well you  _are_  from Earth so you can't be the foreign exchange kid." Daniel mused innocently.

"Then I could be the jock and Teal'c could be the foreign kid!" Cam stated happily, his smile only lasting until Teal'c raised a single eyebrow and conveyed his thoughts on the matter. "Or I could be the cheerleader." He said sullenly.

"Hey now," Daniel called as he descended the stairs, "cheerleaders don't pout."

Cam glared at him.

"You know," Sam started with a cheeky grin, appraising him as they followed Daniel, "picturing you with pom-poms on a pyramid...I could fawn."

"Shut up, nerd." Cam elbowed her with a grin. Sam laughed her way into the kitchen but stopped abruptly when they came face to face with Siremi and Elom. There was an awkward moment but the chief dispelled it quickly from the end of the table.

"Good morning, friends!" He greeted them warmly, gesturing towards seats before him. "Sit, sit, you must be hungry. My wife tells me you've had an exciting night."

"Ah...yes." Daniel replied simply, the morning joviality quickly leaving him. The team slowly took seats around the table, unconsciously sitting in positions like they would during mission briefings, with Elom standing as the General. Siremi didn't speak as she took out plates for them.

"I believe," Elom started, leaning forward and interlocking his fingers on the tabletop, "that it is quite fortunate that the universe has brought you to us."

His statement surprised them, being quite opposite to his wife's...and Vala's.

"You do?" Sam asked skeptically. Elom smiled gently at her.

"I do." He assured her. "Our partnership now leaves me feeling like we are on even ground."

"How's that?" Cam asked with a friendly tone, not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Because now our exchange will be meaningful on both sides."

"Our exchange?" Teal'c repeated gravely.

"Well yes." The Chief said. When he saw that they didn't understand, he came back a few steps. "Our original understanding left us taking much more from you than we could give back. Our technology, our medicine, our culture wouldn't provide near as much for you as your help against the Goa'uld will for us."

Daniel tried to speak but Elom cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"From knowing you I realize that full equality isn't a preoccupation of yours, you're happy to simply help and that's admirable. But, even on behalf of my people, I am not comfortable accepting charity." He explained to them and they nodded in understanding. "But now that there is something I can help you with, I feel like this partnership is more even-footed."

"What? With Vala?" Daniel asked, his eyes jumping to the others to see if they thought differently. Apparently not.

"Exactly." Elom smiled. "Her friendship means very much to you, does it not?"

"It does." Cam agreed. Elom smiled wider and leaned back to gesture to Siremi.

"My wife told me of your separation and that she believes your intentions are honourable. That is all I need to know." He declared. "I am at your disposal to help in any way I can."

The team looked at each other in astonishment. They had figured he wouldn't interfere, like his wife had told them she wouldn't, but to actually have his help?

"Thank you, Elom." Daniel finally said, a hopeful smile on his face.

"I need to tend to the children." Siremi finally spoke, setting their food on the table and leaving the room.

"We don't want to cause you any trouble." Sam said to Elom, tilting her head in the direction Siremi had left.

"You need not worry. She respects my decision, as I do hers." Elom assured them as he dug into his food. "She truly does believe you and wishes to see her friend put this ugly business behind her, but her loyalty comes first and foremost. It is an admirable trait to have." He finished, smiling as he thought of his temperamental wife.

"It is." Daniel agreed and he and the others took up their forks to start eating the omelette-resembling dish Siremi had made them.

"So," Cam started after a comfortable silence of musing, "what exactly did you have in mind? About Vala, I mean."

"Well," Elom replied, "I am not so close to her that speaking on your behalf would do much good but I can assist you in your own plans."

They were slightly disappointed that the man hadn't come up with a brilliant move to get her back...mostly because they hadn't either, but they wouldn't refuse other help either.

"For instance," he continued, "no doubt some of you will wish to speak with her today." They nodded. Daniel and Sam had to go to the meetings with the other chiefs - Daniel as Earth's representative and diplomat, and Sam to explain what technology they were willing to give - but Cam and Teal'c were free to visit Vala.

"Then you'll need to know where she lives, won't you?" Elom grinned.

"Very true." Cam accorded him. They had planned on walking around and talking to villagers until one of them helped them or they found Vala on their own.

"What about how she got here? What you know about her?" Daniel asked, pushing for any information about her.

"What topics to avoid perhaps?" Elom added with a grin, having no problem with the hopeful man's requests.

"That would be great." Cam agreed with a deep nod. He and Teal'c would be up first and he didn't want to screw it up for the rest of them.

They spent the rest of the morning talking about Vala. Elom told them how she'd wandered into their village, eight months pregnant, and didn't have the time to take off her shoes and come in for tea before she went into labour. Nejaya had been born in their house and she and her mother had quickly become part of their family.

"That's why they're so close." Cam surmised and the cheerful chief nodded.

"They stayed here for several months until the Kater family decided to live in the next village to be with their son after he married. Vala saved Mother Kater from a dangerous illness a few months beforehand and they decided to leave their house to her when they left." Elom explained.

"She saved her life?" Teal'c asked. "How?"

"With a device she had with her, a Goa'uld device." He replied. He'd been stunned to see the strange woman back to full strength the day after giving birth but she'd shown them the magic behind it and that was the end of it. "She became something of a healer in the village. Of course we have our own healers that take care of the sick but in life-threatening situations, Vala is called upon to help."

"What does she do otherwise?" Daniel asked curiously.

"She does many things, she is too restless to settle with a single calling." Elom grinned conspiratorially. They knew what he meant. "Yesterday she returned from the hunt. She goes both as healer and trapper, she has quite extensive knowledge on the chase, you know."

"We know." Cam said, sharing a smile with Teal'c and Sam as they recalled the time she'd tried to prove that to them.

"She trades in other villages and on other planets as well but she doesn't do that often. She doesn't like to be away from Nejaya for too long." The chief continued.

"Yeah, about that..." Cam started. "Do you know anything about how Nejaya...came to be? 'Cause Vala was definitely not pregnant the last time we saw her."

Daniel looked at him quickly before turning his attention back to Elom to hear his response.

"We know nothing about the father other than he has passed away." The chief said, his previously chipper face now wearing a certain sadness. "She never speaks of him, not to us or to Nejaya. The little one has learned not to ask and so have we."

The team looked at each other with heavy hearts. They didn't have a good feeling about this. The timing meant that Vala had to have gotten pregnant soon after leaving them and if she was left feeling so distraught over him, he couldn't exactly be a fling. He either had to be someone from her past...or someone not so pleasant.

"That would be one of the topics I suggest you avoid." Elom advised them and they were all willing to agree...for the most part.

"Good idea." Cam said. "Anything else we should know?"

"Only that she planned to leave the village for the duration of SG-13's stay and is likely waking up to do just that now that you are here." Elom informed them.

"So we should get a move on it." Cam inferred.

"It would be wise to make haste, yes." He replied. "And those who are meeting with the council should hasten as well. The last are not due for yet a few hours but those who arrived early this morning will be anxious to meet with you."

They got the message and all five of them hurried to finish their meals and clear up. Then, after Elom bid his wife and children goodbye, they left the house and separated.

"You must go down this way until you see the baker's shop and then make a right. Our houses bear our family names so look for the Mal Doran insignia on the left-hand houses." Elom directed Cam and Teal'c. "And she might be more willing to speak to you if you stop at the baker's first. Nejaya adores the honey bread Minaj makes, he will not charge you if you mention me."

"Thanks for the tip." Cam said sincerely, fixing his hat on his head to escape the glare of the morning sun.

"The council will break for the evening meal, you should come meet the chiefs at the feast." Elom advised them again.

"We will be there." Teal'c agreed.

"Wonderful. Until then." Elom greeted them.

"Until then." Cam replied. "See you guys later."

"Cam..." Daniel trailed off, his anxious voice speaking for him.

"Don't worry your pretty little head off, we'll bring the foreign kid back to the posse." Cam assure him cheekily. His attempt at levity helped but didn't fully dispel the solid knot of anxiety in Daniel's chest.

"And you say you're not a cheerleader." Sam returned with a grin.

"Go team!" Cam cheered jokingly, before turning around and following the path the chief had plotted for them with Teal'c. Daniel chuckled and shook his head. Elom, confused but amused, began walking in the direction of the temporary council's massive tent and was quickly joined by the humans. They still wore small smiles but it was obvious their thoughts were not all with diplomatic matters. He just hoped they could put aside their personal lives for the task at hand or they might be back to unequal footing.

* * *

"I can see why she loves it, this is amazing." Cam said, his mouth full of honey bread.

"Indeed it is. I do not understand, however, how you were able to eat three in two minutes when we have just come from breakfast." Teal'c remarked, holding his own pieces and those for their bribe in separate bags.

"It's a well known fact that carbohydrates are good for energy and I've seen her fight with Jackson, that woman's got mental endurance like I've never seen." Cam defended himself before passing his hand over his protesting stomach.

"Do you feel unwell, ColonelMitchell?" His companion asked him.

"I'm fine, just...nervous." He admitted. "Hell I don't think I've been more nerve-wracked in all my years on SG-1."

"I find that difficult to believe." Teal'c replied skeptically.

"Well, that's probably because it's not completely true." Cam relented. "We've been through tougher times...almost  _every_  mission comes to mind. But you know what I mean."

"I too am uneasy." Teal'c said in reply. "But ValaMalDoran is a rational woman, she will accept our explanation. At the very least, she can have no rebuttal to the recording of herself DanielJackson brought."

"That's true." Cam agreed, patting his backpack to reassure himself they hadn't forgotten it. "But that won't do much good if she slams the door in our faces. And speak of the devil..." He pointed to a house on their left with "Mal Doran" inscribed above the doorway. They stood before it a few moments before Cam all but sprinted for the door.

"Gotta do it like a band-aid." He called back before stepping on the step and quickly rapping his knuckles against the heavy wooden door. Teal'c joined him on the step and they waited silently, trying to hear the sounds of life beyond their barrier.

"Perhaps she has already left." Teal'c hypothesized.

"No way," Cam returned, knocking harder against the door, "we did not get all worked up just to have to wait for her to get back from their mother-daughter camping trip."

Teal'c lifted an eyebrow and Cam amended himself.

"Okay,  _I_  didn't get all worked up...they've got to be home." He said, not letting up on his knocking. Finally the door swung open and his fist fell through air as they were met with irate, stormy gray eyes.

 


	5. Daring

"Get off my property." Vala snapped at them, their mere presence causing the furious anger that had been buried under the weight of her tears over the night to rise up again and take possession of her entire demeanor.

Cam and Teal'c were caught off-guard by her biting tone and realized that they probably should have planned what they were going to say beforehand. Instinctively, Cam snatched one of Teal'c's bags out of his hand and thrust it into Vala's personal space.

"We brought breakfast." He offered with what he hoped was a disarmingly meek smile.

Vala's hardened glare didn't fall down to look at his offering. She thought a moment about chewing them out but realized with a painful finality that to get caught up in a verbal spar session would continue this endless torment. She needed this to be over. She needed to be a mother, a healer, a hunter, not a wounded friend. With this decision having been reached in a matter of milliseconds, Cameron and Teal'c barely had a change to glimpse the change in her before a heavy oak door swung closed inches from their faces.

"That did not go well." Teal'c remarked, earning himself a distinct look from his team leader that spelled  _"no shit"_. Colonel Mitchell, however, was not a man accustomed to giving up when it mattered and he raised his fist again and pounded on the door once more.

"Vala!" He yelled in his most commanding voice. "We are  _not_  leaving this stoop until you listen to us!"

No answer.

"You know I'm not kidding!" He continued, pounding twice more. "I'm with a guy whose idea of a wild time is watching paint dry and we have  _cleared_  our schedule for the foreseeable future!"

He fell quiet then as they heard footsteps nearing the door. The door opened slowly but instead of seeing their friend in the crack, their eyes fell down on her daughter.

"Hey." Cam greeted her, surprise and unease obvious in his voice.

"Good morning." She replied politely, looking up at the tall men at her door and spotting the bags in their hands.

"Oh, hey, these are for you." Cam said, handing her the bag of honey breads. "A little birdie told us you liked them."

"You speak to animals?" Nejaya asked, grabbing the bag with eager hands.

"Ah...no, it's jus-"

"Do they answer you?" She asked, dipping her hand into the sack and licking the honey off her finger.

"No, listen," Cam insisted, shooting a mild look of frustration Teal'c's way, "could you go get your mommy?"

Nejaya looked uncomfortable then and held her bag of goodies close to her chest.

"I told you you shouldn't have come." She repeated the ominous sentence she'd told them yesterday. "You shouldn't be here."

"Yeah, we got that, thanks." Cam said before turning to Teal'c. "You're the one who has experience with kids here, feel free to step in anytime."

Teal'c nodded, amused despite the circumstances that his friend was flustered by a little girl. Cam moved back and Teal'c stepped slowly closer to the door, kneeling to be closer to Nejaya's height.

"It is very important that we speak with your mother, Nejaya." He began, his deep voice, serious tone and kind eyes succeeding in capturing the girl's full attention. "The circumstances of these past years are not as she believes them to be."

"Huh?" She uttered quietly, mesmerized but confused.

"Her memories are false, she believes we have betrayed her and tha-"

Before Teal'c could finish his sentence, a slender but strong hand clamped down on Nejaya's shoulder and pulled her quickly out of sight.

"I told you to leave!" Vala seethed. "You have  _no_  right to speak to me, and even less to speak to my daughter!"

"Fine!" Cam returned heatedly. "Don't give us a chance to fix this huge mistake! What do we care? We've just been searching the known worlds to find your behind, but fine!"

Vala seemed to have nothing to say to his switch in tactics and he took the opening he saw to grab the backpack they'd brought and shove it at her feet.

"At least talk to yourself." He told her.

Vala looked down, and picked up the bag, ready to shove it back at him.

"Jackson's laptop is in that bag, and there's a DVD already geared up and ready to play. It's the recording  _you_ made before you started this whole mess." Cam informed her, his right index finger making sure she understood that he blamed her for this misunderstanding. Vala's narrowed eyes left him to assess Teal'c, he may have a killer poker face and they may no longer be close but she nevertheless felt reassured by the warm and beseeching look in his eyes. She liked to think he still respected her enough not to lie to her face.

"Watch it or don't," Cam continued, stepping away from the house, his hands raised slightly indicating his part was done, "but I'm gonna need that back. Jackson gets a little antsy if he doesn't watch that thing every once in a while."

Vala snorted as his obvious attempt to vouch for the man who'd most deeply hurt her and didn't even try to hide the rolling of her eyes. Cam looked like he was going to reply to her reaction but his hands went up again, he wasn't going to argue with her anymore.

"You know where we'll be." He said, ending the exchange and starting off for the Chief's house. Teal'c lingered a moment, debating whether or not to say something. Vala waited, watching him expectantly, her pose entirely defensive.

"You have raised a beautiful child, ValaMalDoran." He finally said, catching her completely by surprise. Teal'c bowed his head and left to follow Mitchell at a much less agitated pace than he'd taken.

Vala stayed in the doorway until they rounded the corner before daring to acknowledge the lump in her throat.

"Thank you." She murmured.

* * *

"I am surprised, ColonelMitchell," Teal'c said, finding his teammate waiting for him just around the bend.

"How's that?" He asked, falling into step with the Jaffa on their way back to the house.

"I did not expect you to relent so quickly." Teal'c admitted.

"Ah, well that, my friend, is all part of the master plan." Cam grinned mischievously. Teal'c inclined his head, waiting for the other man to continue. "Lookit, this Vala may be a mom, she may have settled down, hell she could be Martha Stewart 2.0  _but_ , she will always be our Vala at heart. There is no  _way_  she's gonna be able to resist watching that tape, she's just too curious for her own good."

Teal'c smiled. "Let us hope that is the case."

" 'Course it is." Cam said, refusing to believe otherwise.

* * *

"You know better than to open the door to strangers, Nejaya." Vala scolded her daughter absently as she moved to and fro across the house, packing random things into their travel bags.

" _You_  know them." Her daughter replied innocently, munching on her treat at the kitchen table. Vala paused in her actions at those words.

"I was led to believe I did." Vala agreed, resuming her little tasks. "But I was deceived."

Nejaya didn't answer though Vala could practically hear her arguments.

"You shouldn't take food from strangers, either." She told her daughter, eyeing the mess of honey now coating the little girl's hands, mouth, cheeks.

"It was good." She said simply. Vala let out a breath but smiled, walking over to her daughter and picking her out of the chair.

"I bet it was. Let's get you cleaned up."

She set Nejaya on the floor and led her to the sink, refusing to look at the distinctly Tau'ri backpack resting against the wall not four feet away.

"We'll clean up, finish packing and be off on our vacation." She said, to herself really, as she turned on the water and lifted Nejaya up so she could reach it.

* * *

Daniel's heel was thumping up and down against the floor under his table and he was thankful he didn't actually have to pay attention to Sam's presentation. He'd heard it all in the briefing on Earth anyway. He was jittery, restless, anxious, beside himself really. He needed to know how things were going with Vala. Had Cam and Teal'c gotten through to her? Had she consented to finally listen to them? Had they even caught her in time? What if they hadn't? She could be halfway to another village by now, or even on another planet while he just sat uselessly in an alien council room.

His stomach was in knots and he doubted his voice would be steady if he was called upon to actively join the proceedings anyway. No, no he'd pull it together, Sam had. He couldn't jeopardize this alliance because of troubles in his personal life. Daniel thought it was ironic that Vala was classified as "trouble" whether he was pushing her away or running after her. She couldn't run fast this time though, she had a young daughter with her. God, she had a daughter! A beautiful, bright, charming little girl. What else had they missed in these five years? What had happened to her? Who was-

"Hey," Sam whispered as she sat back down beside him, "are you okay?"

Apparently he'd been lost in thought for over an hour and had missed her entire presentation.

"Um...yeah, just...thinking." He said lamely. "You were good up there."

"And here I thought that glazed over look meant you weren't listening." She teased him, causing his cheeks to flush slightly in embarrassment.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I guess I'm just finding it...hard to concentrate."

"I don't blame you, I was counting myself lucky to be occupied for so long," Sam sympathized, "but I'm sure the guys are doing fine. For all we know, she'll be waiting for us back at Elom's house when we're done here."

Her words made him smile slightly as he dared to hope for such a vision to be waiting for them. It was a much more pleasant daydream than the ones that had been plaguing him so far.

* * *

On the other side of the village, in league with Daniel's early fears, Vala locked the door behind her and joined Nejaya on the street, shouldering the heavy bags and leaving her daughter with a small leather backpack.

"You're sure you haven't forgotten anything?" Vala asked Nejaya.

"I'm sure." She nodded vigorously, causing her pigtails to bounce back and forth.

"Alright then, let's go." Vala said, taking Nejaya's left hand in her own and ignoring the nagging feeling telling her that she was running again.

"Mama?" Nejaya called to her, making Vala realize she hadn't moved yet.

"Just trying to think of anything we might have forgotten." She assured her with a tight smile. She knew she hadn't forgotten anything, but she also knew she was deliberately ignoring a few things.

"Off we go." She said and forced her feet forward.

She needed this to be over.

* * *

Finally the council was adjourned for the day, partly to allow everyone a chance to absorb all of the information given and partly to allow those who had just arrived to the village to rest.

Sam shot Daniel an attempt at an excited smile and he tried to reciprocate but his own came off more anxious.

"We'll know soon enough." She said.

"Let's just go before anyone tries to come meet us." Daniel half-joked. No sooner had he spoken the words, the scientific leader of the Jerbi tribe approached them.

"Colonel Carter, Doctor Jackson, it is an honour to meet you." The short man smile, his round cheeks puffing out in a manner that reminded them of Dr. Lee. "I am Sherjao of Jerbi. I wonder if you wouldn't mind speaking with me a bit more about this iris you're proposing."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sherjao," Sam started, trying not to show her dismay, "I would love to tell you more about it. Unfortunately, Dr. Jackson has a prior engagement. I hope you won't mind if it's just us."

Daniel could have hugged her then and there. She was sacrificing herself so he could race back to the source of this torment.

"Yes, I'm...so sorry." He told Sherjao, squeezing Sam's elbow to get his thanks across. "I'll be sure to find you tomorrow though and we'll...chat."

Sherjao nodded gaily, he didn't really have any interest in the politics anyway. Sam tried to contain her smile at Daniel's obvious haste packing up and leaving. She only hoped what he would find back at the house was what they all wanted...what they all needed.

* * *

Back at the Chief's house, Cam and Teal'c were sitting down to the lunch Siremi had prepared. She hadn't asked how their meeting with Vala had gone but she had noticed they didn't return with their bag. And since their return, they had been very quiet. It wasn't uncommon, she had learned, for the Jaffa to be silent, but the Tau'ri was usually much more animated. He had come in with a smile but that smile had lessened over time and now his brow was furrowed with worry.

"Maybe we should go back." Cam said suddenly, between bites. Teal'c simply lifted an eyebrow in question.

"If she was gonna watch it, wouldn't she be here by now?" He asked, rhetorically simply because he received no answer.

"I mean it's not like it's the Director's Cut of the Lord of the Rings." Cam continued, simply to fill the silence. "It's...what...two minutes long? Probably less."

Teal'c and Siremi stayed quiet and Cam took his cue from them, returning to his food. The silence did lot last though, as heavy footsteps were heard stomping on the front porch. Not a moment later, the door was opened quickly and with enough force to startle the diners.

"Sorry," the newcomer said, slightly disheveled, "it's a little hard to manage with the baggage."

"We can see that." Siremi smiled, unburdening Vala of the backpack hanging off her arm.

"Hi Aunt Siremi." Nejaya chimed in, stepping in with a bounce.

"Hello, Naya." Siremi greeted her niece warmly, tugging her in for a hug.

"Naya, why don't you go find the girls?" Vala suggested as Teal'c and Cam rose from the table, smiles on both their faces. Nejaya did as her mother asked, not looking at the men in the room but skipping out to find her friends.

"You watched the tape." Cam grinned. "You watched the tape and now you're ready to believe us. What'd I tell you?" He directed the question to Teal'c who merely bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"I didn't watch the tape." Vala said coldly, shattering Cam's good spirits. "And I'm not staying."

Siremi didn't look surprised in the least.

"Then what-" Cam started to ask.

"Like I told you, Nejaya and I are leaving town until you all are gone. We just stopped by to say goodbye to our _family_  and drop off your equipment." Vala said, grabbing their backpack off the floor and dumping it on the table in front of them.

"You said your goodbyes last night." Cam pointed out. "And what do you mean you didn't watch it!?"

"I mean I didn't watch it." She replied in clipped tones. "There is nothing on that DVD that would interest me."

"Now see, I beg to differ." Cam glared at her. Vala was about to reply when Siremi tugged on her arm and led her a bit away.

"Listen to me," she spoke softly and compassionately, "I know you have every reason not to...but it might be worth it to listen to them."

"Not you too." Vala exclaimed, dread starting to seep into her.

"No," Siremi said strongly, "I will tell you what I told them. I know how much these people have hurt you and you know you'll never have to question my friendship or loyalty to you."

Vala nodded reluctantly, hoping fervently that that was true.

"I have seen their recording though," Siremi continued, taking a stunned but curious Vala's hands, "and the woman in it bears a striking similarity to you. She speaks with your voice, moves like you do, but she is younger, happier. And if there's a chance that you were once that person, I think you owe it to yourself to find out what really happened to her."

Vala looked away. Why couldn't she just have skipped town like she'd planned? Now Siremi was convincing her to do something she really didn't want to do. She didn't want to consider the consequences that would come from finding out they were telling the truth.

"But," her friend continued, "you say the word and I'll personally escort you to the stargate."

"Oh sure, you offer me that  _after_  you've convinced me." Vala retorted bitterly.

"It's not my fault your mind is like a sponge to my water pail." Siremi teased her. Vala balked at that and was about to reply when a sound caught her ear.

" _Hello, gorgeous."_

Vala turned around to see that Cam and Teal'c had been busy setting up the laptop while Siremi distracted her. Despite her objections, Vala was drawn to the screen like a magnet.

Siremi was right, the woman looked like her but had Vala really been that...bouncy? It seemed like so long ago, a lifetime. She was vaguely aware of Teal'c pulling out the chair in front of the laptop and her sitting down but her eyes never left the screen.

" _With the possible exception of Daniel who, let's face it, was always a little..."_

Vala grinned at that. It definitely sounded like something she would say, or at least something she could agree with.

" _Oh, are we done? How'd I do?"_

The image on the screen shuddered and went black, releasing her from the spell she'd been under.Her heart felt like it was made of lead and dropping into her stomach.

"This doesn't prove anything." She denied, her voice raspy. "I know you must have holographic technology by now."

"Actually we do," Cam admitted, taking the seat on her left while Teal'c sat at her right, "it's pretty cool. But the only technology that was used here was the memory device we reconfigured."

"You erased my memory of...of what?" She asked, restarting the video.

"You are ready to accept what we have to say?" Teal'c asked her. She sent them both a sideways glance.

"How about you start by saying it and I'll choose what to accept after." She said pointedly.

"Works for me!" Cam said, clapping his hands together.

They spent the next half hour explaining their version of the events, with many irate interruptions on her part - namely when she pointed out the Sodan cloak, and the leading her into the enemy's hands.

"Hey, hello?  _Your_  idea." Cam reminded her.

"So you say." Vala dismissed.

"And if you'd stuck to the plan, none of this would have happened!" He returned.

"Right, 'the plan.'" She nodded sarcastically.

"You were supposed to accompany Adria to the planet where we would apprehend her and return you to the SGC." Teal'c informed her, sensing she was less likely to scoff at his explanations.

"But she didn't bring me with her." Vala remembered, thinking of the child she hadn't seen in years, the child she'd presumed dead.

"No, and when we found her flagship, you were nowhere to be found." He continued.

"No," Vala shook her head, "I'd escaped by then. I never even made it to the ship."

"So you were still on the planet we left you on?" Cam asked incredulously. "You must have seen us looking for you, we went there right after."

"Oh I saw you. And with SG-3 guarding the gate it was hell to gate out too." Vala remembered how annoyed and angry she'd been to discover that particular situation.

"You saw us and left anyway?" Cam asked, looking pained. Vala had no sympathy for him.

"Well I  _had_  thought about staying put and waiting for you once I disarmed the Ori soldiers but you know me and containment cells, I just don't do well with small spaces and seeing as how you had all taken leave of your senses, loyalty and credibility...well you can see why I didn't stick around."

"Except we didn't, you just  _thought_  we did." Cam reminded her.

"Well  _I_ didn't know that, did I?" She returned, her eyes narrowed.

"You would have if you had just-"

"Followed the plan?" Vala finished his sentence sarcastically.

"Yes!"

"Well it was a  _stupid_  plan,  _Cameron_." She informed him, knowing she was being a pain but not willing to deal with the new reality.

" _Your_  stupid plan,  _Vala_!" He all but growled.

"Vala!" A happy voice interrupted them from the open door and she found she couldn't deny a small smile. The possibilities of this new reality weren't all bad.

"Hello, Samantha." Vala greeted her former...no, her friend.

"You watched it." Sam said, noticing the laptop.

"I did, though I did point out that you could have set the entire thing up with holograms." Vala said simply.

"But we didn't." Sam said, taking the bait without realizing it. "I mean, we do have the technology but we would have needed you to have submitted to data recording to digitize your body shape, mannerisms, vocal patterns-"

"Sam," Vala interrupted her, "I believe you." It felt so good to see the blonde flustered and brilliant at the same time again.

"Oh." Sam said sheepishly before stepping forward to engulf Vala in a hug similar to the one she had received upon her return to their universe. "It's so good to see you."

Vala patted her arm and smiled as best she could. "Likewise."

"So," Sam said with a wide smile, letting go and moving to the other side of the table to sit down, "what are we talking about? And where's Daniel?"

At once, Vala's smile fell into a frown.

"Not here." Cam told her.

"He should have been here at least thirty minutes ago if not more." Sam said, puzzled. "I was delayed but he left early."

"What a mystery." Vala deadpanned. "Now where were we?"

The message was received. Obviously Vala's anger wasn't distributed proportionally among them. Daniel was high on her hit list, followed by Cam apparently. Sam and Teal'c seemed to have escaped the brunt of it, a fact for which they were extremely thankful. It did make sense that Vala held a stronger grudge against Daniel than the rest of them, he  _had_  been the closest to her whether he liked it or not.

"Vala." Another voice called laboriously from the door.

"Speak of the devil." She muttered with a glare directed at the ceiling since she still didn't want to look at him.

"Daniel." Sam called, relieved to see him how she'd left him.

"Hey, sorry, Homib of Teran stopped me as I was leaving, I couldn't get away." He explained sourly as he came into the kitchen somewhat hesitantly. Vala wasn't looking at him and the others were all looking worriedly in her direction, afraid of her reaction.

"Maybe...I should go." Daniel surmised with heavy disappointment.

"No..." Sam said hesitantly, feeling bad for him.

"Vala was just telling us what happened after the plan went south." Cam continued just as hesitantly. They were all wary of losing this inch they'd progressed. Thankfully, Vala finally acknowledged his presence.

"Yes, Daniel, stay." She said almost mechanically. "No reason we can't act civilized, you might actually learn something."

Daniel ignored the jab and cautiously sat down beside Teal'c. After a tense moment of silence, Cam jumped back in.

"So what happened after you got past us on that planet?" He asked.

"Not much, actually." Vala answered him honestly. "I returned to my roots, what I was best at." Those roots were implicitly known and Vala shot Daniel a pointed look, almost daring him to rebuke her for her lifestyle but he stayed quiet, his face completely devoid of judgement.

"Anyway, that lasted until I found out I was pregnant." She continued, suddenly fidgeting with the table cloth. Siremi sat down at the table for this, as new to this story as the rest of its occupants.

"I'm guessing it wasn't exactly planned what with you being on the run." Sam said gently, hoping she didn't come across as judgmental either.

"No, actually, as per the trend set by the Ori, I wasn't consulted for this pregnancy either." Vala admitted for the first time in five years.

"You're...saying that Nejaya is another Orici?" Cam reiterated in disbelief.

"That's what I thought at first." Vala said, leaning back in her chair, suddenly feeling like the kitchen was very crowded. "I had no idea what happened to Adria after she left, I...assumed that she died somewhere along the way and they'd impregnated me again to replace her."

"Adria  _did_  ascend." Teal'c pointed out. "Is it not possible she could have returned in another human vessel?"

Vala bit the inside of her cheek. After five years, she finally knew definitively what had happened to her first child. She had mourned Adria years ago but it still hurt to this day.

"Nejaya," Daniel started quietly, almost afraid to use her name with how Vala reacted last night, "she doesn't look like Adria...and she's still young."

Vala looked at him for the first time without anger but she wasn't really seeing him, she was remembering that first year of fear and uncertainty. For eight months she'd been plagued with nightmares and the certainty that she  _had_  to prevent this second Orici from being born but the complete inability to willfully bring harm to her child. After that was the guilt, the same of knowing she was ushering a new destroyer into the world.

"No," Vala said firmly, "Nejaya is not an Orici. But when I thought...that she might be, my only thought was to get as far away from all the Ori fleets as humanly possible. So after months of traveling gate to gate, I finally reached the outskirts of the galaxy, this planet. This planet had never been touched by the Ori, didn't even have to deal with the Goa'uld anymore. It was perfect." Vala said, smiling with Siremi, remembering how she'd been able to take her first breaths in peace here.

"Nejaya was born and her eyes were blue, like they are now, not gold like Adria's." Vala continued, she had done a thorough inventory of her newborn child to be sure she wasn't part Ori. "Nobody came for her, she didn't age any faster than any other child, and to this day she doesn't have any telepathic or telekinetic powers."

"So she's really just a normal kid?" Cam asked, happy to have found some good news.

"Aside from having been immaculately conceived, of course." Sam reminded him.

"Right." Vala nodded. "Which led me to believe that this was the doing of the Ancients."

"The...the Ancients?" Daniel asked, his face a picture of confusion and skepticism which was actually better than poor Siremi who was utterly lost.

"Well who else?" Vala asked him defensively. "I don't know of any beings other than those ascended that have the power to impregnate someone without any assistance or participation."

"That would go against everything they believe in." Daniel countered, shaking his head.

"Maybe it was the only way to balance things out. They're all about balance, aren't they?" Vala proposed, having had this argument with herself many times over the years. "Maybe the only way to balance out the fact that I was used as a vessel for evil was to make me a vessel for good."

"But you said Nejaya didn't have any powers." Daniel remembered.

"Maybe that was too far out of their rule book." She returned.

"That's a lot of 'maybes'." He remarked skeptically.

"Well I'm so sorry I don't have all the answers for you,  _Daniel_ ," Vala growled, rising from the table. Nejaya's conception had always been a particularly touchy subject and mixed in with the present company she had hated for five years and the onslaught of memories, Vala snapped. "I'm sorry I don't have a handy little videotape to convince you everything you thought you knew was wrong. Why don't you come back in another five years and I'll see what I can do."

With that, she called for Nejaya and, hearing her mother's tone, the girl came running. Without bothering to get their bags, Vala scooped her daughter up and vanished out the door.

"Vala, wait!" Sam cried while Cam glared at Daniel.

"Do you know how long it took her to convince her just to watch the damn thing? Never mind  _believing_  it." Cam accused his teammate. Daniel ignored them all and rushed to follow Vala out the door. The others didn't waste any time either.

"Vala, this is ridiculous!" Daniel called after her. "You can't just stop believing what we're telling you because you're upset!"

"And you can't tell me what to believe!" She said loudly to the man following her, not slowing her pace. "I'm not part of your little club anymore, I haven't been for quite some time."

"What about Nejaya?" Daniel asked, feeling awkward asking with the young girl looking back at him from her mother's arms. He didn't let that keep him from saying his peace though. "You're telling me you honestly believe you don't know who her father is? You don't find that odd?"

Vala face screwed itself up in disbelief.

"I  _told_  you, she doesn't have a father. That's not exactly uncommon in my pregnancies."

"I think you think she does." Daniel proposed boldly as they turned the final corner, bringing Vala's house in sight. "But I think you're so blinded by your anger that you'll refuse to entertain the possibility of the truth out of the fear that you'll actually have to reconsider what's happened."

"Like you would know  _anything_  about the 'truth', Daniel Jackson, or friendship for that matter." Vala shot back, trying to shove down the rising feeling of uneasiness that told her he might be onto something. Thankfully she was at her door and with her hand closing around the doorknob, she finally found the strength to turn around and face him.

"Get this through your head. Nejaya is  _my_  daughter and mine alone, there  _is_  no truth but that." She declared, quickly stealing away into her house and slamming down the door behind her but not before she heard him.

"Then why does she have my eyes!?" He demanded to know.

Such a simple sentence, and it sucker-punched Vala to the point where she slid numbly down against the door to rest on the floor. No... no...

"Mama?" Nejaya called worriedly, now on her own feet. Vala's maternal instincts prevented her from ignoring the call and she was forced to look up, her teeth biting down on her lips until they drew blood when she caught sight of her four year old child's eyes riddled with anxiety...her child...four years old...her clear blue eyes...

Oh god.

 


	6. Precipice

"You wanna run that by us again there, Jackson?" Cam asked him, his voice at a distinctly higher pitch than usual. The scuffling aside of dirt told Daniel the entire team and some of Elom's household had also followed their little production all the way to Vala's house. He let out a shaky breath. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the door Vala and her...her daughter had escaped beyond.

He hadn't meant to say that.

He  _really_  hadn't meant to say that.

He hadn't even processed wha-

"Daniel?" Sam. He thought she might have put a hand on his shoulder but he couldn't quite feel it.

"I..." His head felt numb, his lips lax.

"You...have something you wanna tell us?" Cam continued, moving to stand in front of his teammate. All Daniel could see was a dark shape. He took a halted breath and the world saw fit to right itself and allow him a brief moment of clarity.

"I need to get back to Earth." His declaration was barely louder than a mumble.

"Say what?" Cam uttered disapprovingly. "You're going to spring something like that on us and just high-tail it back to Earth?"

But Daniel wasn't listening, he was already backing up and away from them.

"Listen, I just- I'll be back, don't let her leave." He asked of them, hoping they'd trust him despite all appearances that he'd lost his mind. "I gotta go."

"Wha-" Sam blew a confused breath and let the hand she'd had on him fall slack against her side as her friend sprinted out of sight at break-neck speeds. "This is insane."

"It is most astounding news." Teal'c agreed, setting the stalled gears in all of their minds whirring, trying to figure out how they could have missed this. The attraction had been there, sure, but that something like this had actually happened without...

"Aunt Siremi!" Nejaya's small voice came from the window next to the door "Can you come? Mama won't get away from the door."

Sending an accusing look at the remaining members of SG-1, Siremi gathered her skirt and briskly made her way to the back of the house to access the other door.

"I believe Samantha would be best suited for the first watch." Teal'c suggested.

"First watch?" The volunteered woman echoed.

"You heard Jackson," Cam shook his head, "he'll be right back. We gotta make sure she doesn't skip town while he's gone. Teal'c will relieve you in a few hours."

The Jaffa in question raised an eyebrow at his leader.

"What? You guys are fine in her books, she's still pissed at me for whatever reason." Cam defended himself. The others had nothing to say and so, with a wary resolve, Sam slowly made to follow Siremi and the guys went to await Daniel's return.

* * *

Siremi sat Nejaya down at the table with some of her wooden toys and thanked whatever deities that gave her fortitude that children had the most amazing capacity for distraction. The girl's mother had been led away from the door easily enough and was now sitting restlessly on the couch, her eyes wide, calculating; her right thumbnail scratching at its opposite.

"It can't be possible." The anxious woman confided to Siremi as she approached with tea that would remain untouched. Siremi said nothing.

"It can't be possible." Vala repeated, just as quietly, as if adding volume to the discussion would lend credence to its content.

"Is it less possible than higher beings granting you a child without explanation? Without reason?" Siremi asked with honest curiousity. It seemed that Vala was also weighing both possibilities.

"Well it's not as if the Ori asked my permission before they did their routine, and had I not stayed in that village with Tomin or joined him on the crusade I might never have received an explanation. But it's...I mean...It can't possibly be... _his_."

Even as she spoke the words, however, Vala's mind was racing back to that time she'd tried to forget, that time she'd been told never really existed. Could she really remember breaking into the storage unit to get the cloaking device? Could she really remember deciding on which planet would serve as her getaway?

She remembered the feelings that had assaulted her mind when her former teammates betrayed her. She could clearly recall the way her heart felt when Daniel had abandoned her and when she looked upon the SGC for the last time before throwing herself into the far reaches of the galaxy. But could she remember coming up with the plan? Etching out the details? Where she'd go and how?

She couldn't.

* * *

"How's Dr. Jackson?" General Landry asked his daughter in the hallway outside the infirmary. The resident archeologist had been flustered and agitated as he crossed the wormhole, to say the least. He had fought the need for the routine check-up after returning from an alien planet but the General would not be moved, not even after being given the news of Vala being alive and well. Landry may, however, have quickened his pace back to the control room to radio the rest of SG-1 and confirm.

"He's calmer than when he came in but I'm pretty sure this newfound zen is a show. He's wound up pretty tight." Dr. Lam replied, shrugging her shoulder. The General nodded his head and granted his daughter a small smile before moving past her to reach the bed whose occupant was making an extreme effort to appear calm. So extreme it actually defeated the purpose.

"Dr. Jackson," he greeted.

"General, hello," Daniel nodded, turning on the bed to better face the man, "Dr. Lam's given me a clean bill of health. If you don't mind I'd like to requisition the memory recall device."

"Is that why you're back without the rest of SG-1?" Landry asked.

"Yes, well it's not a complicated job, I didn't see the need for everyone to come back. And I think it's best Vala stay under watch, we don't want her giving us the slip again." The archeologist rushed out.

"Yes, Colonel Mitchell tells me he ordered you back for the device to restore Vala's memories." Landry replied wryly, the acknowledgement of Cam's bullshit cover story obvious. When he continued, though, it was with warmth infusing his voice. "I'm glad you found her. How is she?"

"A mother." Daniel replied brutally plainly, his eyes starting to lose their focus on the present situation as his mind rushed back to the planet he'd just left. Had he stayed in the moment, he would have noticed the stalwart General's eyebrows lift to never-before-seen heights over progressively narrowing eyes as the man before him's behaviour suddenly had a cause. Landry had questions. Plenty of questions. Some of them not even questions but fatherly chastisements. But most of all he had the experiences of a man who'd lost too many years with his child.

"The device will be ready in the gate room within the half hour." He informed Daniel, his voice stern but not unkind. It seemed that was enough to return the good doctor to present circumstances, at least enough to thank the General before he left the room.

* * *

"Vala?" A voice called out.

Vala and Siremi raised their heads to find Sam lingering awkwardly near the table.

"I'm sorry, the door was open in the back and I didn't want to interrupt." Sam explained hesitantly. "Is it...Could I..."

"Come in, Samantha." Vala said, cutting her off softly. Sam replied with a relieved smile, nodding to Siremi before taking a seat on the sofa on Vala's other side. For a while, the three women sat in silence, the only noise in the room coming from Nejaya's wooden horse-like animal being walked jerkily across the table.

"Did you know?" Vala finally asked.

"About this?" Sam returned, lips pursed gently with discomfort. "No."

"The guys..."

"They didn't know either." Sam assured her. "I don't know if you want to hear this but I think even Daniel didn't really guess until...well he seemed as surprised as the rest of us."

"Oh?" Vala returned with sarcasm. "Is he suffering from altered memories too? And here I thought I was special."

"No," Sam said with a sad smile, "I just think...I think he never really let himself think of you in terms of the past."

Vala's expression narrowed with confusion.

"I mean, at first we were too busy with trying to find you to talk about you all that much but after we were barred from searching anymore...well Cam was kind of the instigator." Sam begin, her lips quirked into a mischievous grin. "Whenever there were new recruits or we had to train new teams off-world, inevitably it would come up that SG-1 was the only team ever to have had a space pirate as a member. And Cam would make a huge show of recounting all our missions and your off-team exploits as a kind of initiation rite for the recruits. I guess he figured it was a way for them to get that sense of wonder back after induction training, and it was a way for us to keep you with us."

Sam paused then, unknowingly allowing time for Vala's heart to unclench. She had been hard on her former team leader since she had found SG-1 in Elom's house, more so than with Teal'c or Sam - though in her defense, definitely less harsh than with Daniel. Cameron had been always been the team's leader, would have been for all intents and purposes even without the rank. He brought everyone together and kept them that way. Cameron had been the one she expected and trusted to always hold the team together no matter what - the team she'd suddenly found herself excluded from. She had always not-so-subconsciously felt that he could have saved her from her fate of Area 51 if he'd really wanted to. That if he hadn't succeeded, it meant she didn't mean enough to the team she loved as she had dared to hope. Daniel's betrayal had broken her heart and soul but Cam's had broken her spirit, her feelings of belonging.

"Daniel…" Sam continued, "he could never stay around when Cam started in on one of his stories, as much as he might have wanted to. I think, for him, thinking of your past self meant giving up on a future you and he couldn't do it. He had the recording of you, we watched that with all the time. But...whatever happened between you guys back then," her eyes flitted away to land on the dark head bent over wooden toys, "I guess he just never let himself think of it. At least not until we had you back, alive, in arm's reach."

Vala didn't say anything. If she swallowed heavily, her present company was kind enough not to comment on it. She hated that she could relate. Hated it. As much as her memories of Daniel before any of this happened filled her with rage, it was mostly only to cover the heartache they brought up first.

"So," she cleared her water-logged throat, "all of this...my memories, the plan, this...it's really all true." Vala's voice trailed off into a whisper, her desperate eyes seeking the truth in Sam's.

"Yes." Her friend replied just as quietly, her hand reaching out to cover Vala's; she was trembling slightly and colder than she should be.

"But what about  _this_ ," Vala repeated, her head tilting in the direction of her daughter, "how could you not know about...about  _Daniel_  and I. And why can't I even remember that? Surely it couldn't have been part of the plan, what purpose would that have served?"

"It wasn't. At least not any plan I was made aware of." Sam replied quickly, her mind getting into gear to solve the mystery. "The only thing I can think of is that whatever happened between you two - if you really can't remember a thing about it - must have happened after you started thinking about the mission and before it went into action. You were the one who came up with the idea so we had to erase back to the day you thought it up."

"So how long was it between that day and the day her memories were erased?" Siremi asked when Vala seemed lost in thought.

"We only erased three days, the first two of us all hashing out the details and the third when the General approved the mission, plus the morning the actual mission day. And from what we saw of those days...you two weren't really on friendly terms for any of them."

"What do you mean?" Vala asked long seconds later, her mind still trying to play catch-up.

"I mean, you were yelling at each other every time we saw you. Daniel was against the plan from the start and you weren't exactly pleased that he wouldn't back you up. You two were furious with each other."

Vala gave a short laugh of irony. "So these feelings of betrayal aren't necessarily all an illusion then. How about that."

Sam chose not to reply and the room fell into pregnant silence once more.

"I don't know what to think, Sam." Vala whispered, her voice just on the edge of breaking. "I don't know what to think anymore."

"I know." Her friend said with all simplicity.

"Is there not a way that her true memories could be restored?" Siremi put forward. "If you have the means to remove her memories, could they not also be restored?"

Vala's posture straightened somewhat but her eyes reflected the conflict of hope and fear within her. Before Sam could reply, there was a heavy knock at the door.

"That'll be Teal'c." Sam said, her face apologetic. "He's ah…supposed to relieve me."

"Relieve you?" Siremi asked, her voice pointed.

"Under surveillance, am I?" Vala chuckled humorlessly, feeling utterly drained.

"We just don't want to lose you again." Sam beseeched her understanding.

"So it seems. Well, let him in." Vala waved her off. With a tight smile, the blonde woman did as she was told.

"It's a little early for a shift change though, isn't it?" Vala enquired loudly but unbothered.

"I have not come to relieve Samantha." Teal'c answered as he appeared through the door. "Daniel Jackson has returned."

Vala noticed Sam's shoulders loosening from a previously undetectable state of tension and she furrowed her brow.

"The Doctor had a prior engagement?" She drawled, curiousity well hidden.

"He left for Earth right after..." Sam trailed off, the dramatic moment needing no introduction.

"He has returned with Dr. Lam and the memory device." Teal'c announced. Not a hair moved in the room, not a speck of dust. Even Nejaya, who had been completely engrossed in ignoring the adults, sensed the shift in mood and sat completely still in her chair.

"We would never force you to do it, Vala." Sam promised her. "But if you can remember a time when you trusted us...if you can hold onto any part of yourself that believes in what we're trying to tell you...we're just asking for a chance to set things right. Once you have your memories we can take it from there but at least give us, and yourself, a chance to heal five years of misery and loneliness."

"Even if I miraculously find out that all that I remember is false and that five years ago you all never betrayed me, those fives years of feelings won't just slip away." Vala replied, eyes tracked onto the table.

"No, but at least it'll mean you won't have to carry those feelings for another five." Sam pressed on, not caring that she was begging. She wanted her friend back. She wanted Vala to smile, her eyes to be light and cheerful, not weighed down with an invisible sadness. And most of all, she wanted the same for the friend who wasn't with them, the one whose sole representation in the room was a little girl with matching eyes.

As if called by Sam's thoughts alone, Nejaya pushed herself away from the table and made her way to the living room. She said nothing, she simply sat beside her Aunt Siremi and waited like all the grown-ups were doing. Unable to ignore her daughter, Vala turned her head to give her a smile and, in that short moment, made her decision.

"Let's hope your mother is part cat, darling." Vala said, opening her arms to her daughter and rising from the sofa with Nejaya on her hip. "She's about to risk a life to curiousity."

 


	7. Nosedive

The scene at Elom's house was surreal, even for SG-1's limited previous exposure. They didn't know where the children might be but the sounds of high-pitched chattering that had become the background of their every moment in the house were no longer present. The empty building leant itself to an eerie atmosphere. It could also have been the tangible tension in the room, all of its occupants on edge with anticipation, the very air oppressive with expectation.

When the small group had ended its trek from Vala's house, they were met by Elom, Cameron, Daniel, and an incongruent-looking Dr. Lam in full off-world gear. After greeting the medical doctor with a somewhat nostalgic smile, Vala had disappeared into another room with Siremi and Nejaya. They'd been gone nearly fifteen minutes before footsteps were heard again and Vala reappeared alone, her face apologetic but resolved.

"It's not that I don't want to believe you, because I do." She began, her eyes flitting around the room, never really landing on one person. "And it's not that you haven't been convincing because quite frankly any more evidence and I'd hardly need my memories back. But if there's the slightest chance that this isn't what it's supposed to be...I can't have my daughter in harm's way."

Samantha gave a strained smile of support, some shades of hurt she couldn't help not quite clearing from her eyes. Daniel's expression, what Vala quickly saw of it, was somewhat appreciative, and she didn't want to think about what that meant.

"Wow," Cam broke the silence, a teasing grin on his lips, "you really are a full-fledged, card-carrying, pie-baking, time-out-giving Mom, aren't you?"

"I could still take you down, Cameron Mitchell, don't you doubt that for a second." She returned, surprising the team leader with the warmth in her voice. "In fact, carrying a toddler around has given me incredibly powerful arms. So, Muscles, I'm expecting a five year late rematch when this is all over."

"I would be honoured." He bent his head, a rare smile relaxing his features.

"Shall we get started?" Dr. Lam asked, opening one of the cases she'd brought with her.

"By all means." Vala replied, proud of herself for sounding ready and confident. "What is all of this? I remember it being a lot more compact."

"The memory device is in those two cases," Dr. Lam said, motioning to the cases Samantha and Daniel were currently unpacking and setting up. "The rest of this is diagnostic equipment. I want to make sure you're as healthy as possible before we do this."

"I wasn't aware there was much risk associated with this procedure."

"There isn't physically but the memories you were given were quite emotional and I'm told your real ones aren't exactly calming. Emotional upheaval can have physiological manifestations - heart rate and blood pressure rising, stomach pains, headaches. I'd prefer knowing you were completely healthy before possibly subjecting you to that." Dr. Lam explained, positioning the blood pressure cuff around Vala's left bicep.

"Well, I do appreciate thoroughness in a doctor." Vala drawled. She suddenly felt a prick of heat on her neck and knew a certain other doctor was looking at her. "So what about my current memories, is there any risk to them?" Vala asked the group as an alternative to acknowledging the gaze.

"No, our technology five years ago was advanced enough to pinpoint memories very precisely and we've come a long way since then." Sam replied before being struck with a thought. "If you want, we could return your real memories but also remove the false ones we gave you."

"Thank you but no," Vala replied with a dry grin. "I'd just be left with the memory of five years of bitterness without a cause to attribute it to."

For the next half hour, while the scientists toyed with their machine, Dr. Lam ran every possible test for which she could get results in the field and asked many and very detailed questions on everything from her sleeping habits to Nejaya's delivery. Finally the device was set up, the start-up diagnostic had been run, her memories had been loaded from a cartridge Daniel personally handled with extreme care, and the very good and professional doctor was down to her very last test.

"Is Nejaya still in the house?" Dr. Lam asked as she swabbed the inside of Vala's cheek. Unable to reply well with the object in her mouth, Vala approximated a "why?"

"Because I'll need a sample from her as well, I've already got Dr. Jackson's." Lam replied, sticking the moistened swab in a long, clear tube. When Vala didn't show any signs of following, she elaborated. "For the paternity test. I assumed you'd want to run one given the circumstances."

A deaf man could have heard a pin drop. That spot of heat on her neck was back and she was even more disinclined to acknowledge it this time around.

"Yes... I mean, yes she's still in the house. She's upstairs with Siremi." Vala said, she couldn't remember a time when her tongue had felt so clumsy in her mouth. Dr. Lam grabbed another swab and moved upstairs, leaving the room in a very awkward state of inactivity until Cam came to the rescue again.

"Alright, Big Mama, let's get you hooked up." He said enthusiastically, clapping his hands once before ushering her into the chair in front of the table.

"Shouldn't Dr. Lam be doing this?" Vala hesitated.

"Hey, I'm the resident expert at this." Cam protested. "Ask anyone. I've had my brain scrambled by this thing more than most people combined."

"Your level of brain damage is not really setting my concerns at ease, Cameron." Vala retorted sardonically but let him place the sticky tape with the electrodes on various parts of her head.

"Aw, come on, Dorothy. Where's your sense of adventure?" He grinned.

Before she could answer, Dr. Lam was back with her daughter's sample, which was tucked away safely in one of the cases. The doctor performed a double-check of all the electrodes and when she pronounced them ready, Vala had to shove back the tide of sudden reality threatening to overtake her because if it did, she knew she'd pull the plug on the whole thing due to nerves along.

"Ready to go to Oz, princess?" Cam asked.

Vala took a deep breath and, for the first time, sought out Daniel's face. Without breaking their gaze, she gave her assent and before she knew it, she was diving into lost memories.

* * *

_**Five Years Ago** _

_It had taken Vala two hours of speed-walking around the mountain and the shedding of exactly two tears of pure, rabid frustration before she'd felt calm enough - or tired enough - to start making her way back to her quarters. She walked slowly back to the entrance and through the hallways, she even took the very long stairs down instead of the elevator. The fact of the matter was, there was no guarantee this plan would work. It had good odds and she was nothing if not a gambling woman. But she'd come to learn, during her time on Earth, that there were some things too precious to gamble away. Her time here had also taught her selflessness and the need to protect what you love which was why she was doing it anyway. Daniel was right to have concerns but they were almost the same as her own and at the moment, she could have used some faith, some reassurance, some...anything._

_It wasn't like her to get attached to people, but she had. And it wasn't like her to get attached to places, but she was starting to. Maybe she was just getting old and sappy. Or maybe she was just exhausted. Yelling at Daniel for three days straight can take a lot out of a person, the man could throw seventeen arguments in the span of time it took a normal person to say "hello". Still, despite wanting to attack every soft part of his body with something blunt and very hard, it would have been nice to not spend her last night on Earth (before a mission, of course, she_ was _coming back) estranged from the man responsible for bringing her into this quasi-family in the first place._

_Although, it was funny how the moment she swiped her key card and opened the door to her quarters that sense of longing evaporated completely and she was back to the desire for blunt force trauma._

" _What are you doing here?" She almost yelled with exasperation. "You may not agree with it but like it or not I do have a mission tomorrow and the least you could do is let me get some unbothered rest before I go."_

" _Come in, Vala." Daniel replied quietly from his place in the chair of her vanity, his eyes hovering unseeing somewhere near her waist._

"' _Come in?' It's_ my _room, of course I'll come in. The problem is you having taken the same liberties." She seethed despite his tone setting something in her stomach on "flip". She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her anyway, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed._

_Daniel's lips pursed and someone who didn't know him might think he was angry, but there was nothing Vala knew more than one Dr. Daniel Jackson and his body language. His shoulders were hunched, his eyes were nearly vacant...pursing his lips meant he was trying not to swallow against a lump in his throat._

" _Daniel?" Vala questioned, her voice still hard but inquisitive instead of outright aggressive._

" _I don't not trust you, Vala." He admitted, his eyes not straying from some non-existant point near her belt. "I...I have every faith that you'll do your best."_

_Vala scoffed. "_ Do my best _. Well don't I feel invincible now with that backing me up."_

_Finally, his vacant eyes were returned to life and they fixed themselves magnetically on hers._

" _You can't account for everything, Vala." He said. "None of us can. Ever. Anything could go wrong at any time."_

" _And yet we still go through the gate every time we have need to." Vala returned._

" _Exactly." He said. "'We'. We go as a team."_

" _We've all had solo missions before, Daniel." She sighed, loosening her crossed arms to rest them against her stomach._

" _Never without the knowledge of exactly what we were doing." He pressed, his lips pursing again. "And almost always with back-up just a radio away. We won't even be on the same_ planet _this time. It's pretty much as reckless as it gets, Vala."_

" _The odds are good,_ Daniel _. And we won't get another opportunity like this" She gritted out through clenched teeth, her jaw tightening when he leant forward and place his elbows on his knees._

" _Some things shouldn't be gambled away, Vala." His all-but-whispered words blowing out the fire she'd stoked so passionately and leaving her cold. They sounded suspiciously familiar, she wondered if they meant the same to him as they did to her. His defeated demeanor told her they did._

" _It's a great opportunity." She repeated softly, cringing internally at the lameness of her argument._

" _It is." He said, raising his head to nod. "And if it was...I don't know, Captain Dennis from SG-5 or Lieutenant Green from SG-8 or, god Vala, anyone else. Pick someone, anyone. Let them go. I should care but I don't. I don't anymore."_

_Vala could see he was struggling with something so she stayed quiet but moved to sit on the bed opposite his chair._

" _I've been doing this for ten years, Vala. An entire decade." He told her. She already knew. "Eleven if you count the very first mission to Abydos. I've watched my wife die, I've watched my friends die, I've died myself more times that I can honestly keep track of and there has_ got _to be something very wrong with that." She couldn't tell if his hands were shaking of if he was gripping them too tightly but it was easier to keep her eyes on them than the naked desolation in his eyes. "I don't know why - honestly I don't... I've literally been to Hell and back and I don't know why but, Vala, I think you're my last straw."_

_If not for the hammering in her chest and tightness in her throat, she thought she might have been able to respond to that._

" _I can feel it. Viscerally. My entire body, my mind, my heart, my soul if I've still got one - they're all screaming not to let you go. Not to let you go where I can't save you." He let out a laugh but it was a painful sound. "See, two years ago, I could have thought that but another part of me would say '_ she's a grown woman, she knows the risks, it's her choice _' That voice is_ gone _Vala. At the end of the day you're your own person. But a bigger part of me now wants to lock you away until you understand that you're a part of my person too and I don't think I've got enough left to...I can't lose you, Vala."_

" _I wasn't aware you'd ever had me." She retorted quietly, her voice rough, after an extended moment of silent recuperation. To his credit, he did give her a small smile, allowing her this small measure of lightness in the oppressive weight of the conversation._

" _Well it didn't help that for the longest time I was under the impression I didn't want to." He admitted, leaning back into the chair, torment was still ever-present behind his grin._

" _And that's changed, has it?" She pressed him with an attempt at a saucy smirk; it came out tremulous at best._

" _What, you didn't get that with the running after you yelling bit?" He teased her gently. "I thought women loved that."_

" _Well I am a special kind of woman." She relented with a nod, hesitating before placing her hand over one of his. It had been shaking after all._

" _That you are." He said thickly, turning his hand in hers and holding onto it as if the touch itself could cleanse him of the fear and weariness infecting his every pore. She didn't pull away, she didn't want to. She had never witnessed the man before her so completely...open. She could have thought of why it seemed he had to be in emotional anguish before he'd allow himself to be close with her, or she could simply savour the moment, savour the nearness, savour the feel of his skin under her fingers. She chose the latter._

" _I have to do this, Daniel." She finally said, wishing she could take the words back as soon as they were out. "It has to be me. It's our best chance to get Adria with minimum risk."_

" _Minimum risk to us, you mean." He returned. Her free hand moved of its own accord to settle hesitantly on his neck, her thumb brushing the stubble of his jaw line. She wondered if Daniel knew he was leaning into her touch._

" _I have to do this." She repeated, resolute._

" _I know." He replied plainly, his eyes closing with the fourth stroke of her thumb. "I knew that the minute you told us about it. Doesn't mean I've accepted it."_

" _And what will it take for such a miracle?" Vala asked with quirked lips._

" _You." He replied solemnly, opening his eyes. "Back from this ridiculous mission, alive. I'll accept it when you come back to us. I'll even tell everyone on base that Vala Mal Doran had a brilliant plan and I was wrong if you want me to." He finished with a miniscule, sardonic grin._

" _Well now that_ is _incentive." Vala cooed exaggeratedly, her hand dropping from his neck to rest on his forearm. The hand holding his never let go, and it wouldn't until he let go first. "But you know, I'm not entirely sure you'd know what to do with me even if -_ when - _I do come back."_

" _Oh?" He played along, a hint of dubious amusement shaping his lips._

" _Well to be honest, Daniel, you're making a big fuss about keeping me close but I've been here for nearly two years already and you haven't made a single move." Vala shook her head with mock disappointment. "I mean, we're here now, quite close and you still aren't making a move. I just don't have faith in your ability to keep your end of this deal."_

" _I don't recall making it that kind of deal." He replied in kind, an eyebrow cocking._

" _I took the liberty of making it for the both of us." Vala informed him nonchalantly._

" _Of course you did."_

" _It's just more efficient, darling." She told him, waving off any future protests. "You bookish types aren't very efficient decision makers. For instance -"_

_Moving slowly but without much other warning, Vala pressed her lips to Daniel's. His hand tightened around hers on his lap but the rest of his body lost another layer of tension as he melted into her kiss. Her free hand reclaimed its place at his jaw to keep him against her and to her surprised delight, she could feel the warmth of his own hand settling against her back, not pulling her closer but not pushing her away either. When necessity saw them part, Vala took a moment to appreciate what she imagined few people had ever had the privilege of seeing: the almost serene features of one Dr. Daniel Jackson._

" _You see?" She said, her voice husky. "Two years." She said, laying two fingers on his chest. "Two minutes." She said, bringing those two fingers to her own._

" _You may have a point." He agreed, his voice rough, his lips smiling. When she moved in again, however, his hand fell on her shoulder and she looked at him questioningly. "I'll accept the terms of this imaginary deal. You come back safe, we pick right back up from here."_

" _Daniel," Vala said quietly. "You're the one who keeps saying this thing is a bad idea. That I might not be coming back. This could be our-"_

_Before she could finish - to keep her from finishing - Daniel had darted out of his chair and taken her mouth with such desperation that she had to move her head back just to regain her breath. He had finally let go of her hand but only to snake his arm around her back to pull her to his body._

_It took all of three seconds for the deceptively strong archeologist to have them spread out alongside each other on the bed. They had some twelve hours left before they had to worry about anything beyond the four walls of Vala's room. They didn't waste a second of them._

* * *

The end of the memories did not leave Vala with a smooth transition back to reality. One moment she was sitting down at the memory device the morning of the mission, the next she was jolted into opening her eyes and taking in the same damn device but on an alien table, on an alien planet - the one she now called home.

"Vala, are you okay?" She heard Sam ask her from across the table, in the seat across from her. Vala nodded absently once, noticing the room had cleared of everyone but herself, Sam, Dr. Lam and...Daniel, who was perched on the side of the table.

"I thought you might like some space to process everything." Daniel said gently, the mix of anxiety and hope in his eyes scarily reminiscent of how he'd looked five years ago in her room. "We can leave too, if you want."

She didn't want. What she wanted was to hang onto these memories - these memories that were more vivid now in her mind than her last meal had been. She wanted desperately not to think of how that night of joy had been followed by disaster and years,  _years_  of heartache and misery that could have been prevented. She didn't want to think of anything, she just wanted to hold onto that night.

"Vala?" Dr. Lam asked, getting out her nearest equipment.

"I'm fine." She whispered, before clearing her throat. "I'm fine, Dr. Lam. I'm sure you have another battery of tests you'd love to run but they can wait a bit, can't they?"

"I'd really rather-"

"Doctor," Vala interrupted, "please. Samantha?"

Her friend glanced at her in question but didn't need any more than a look of request before giving a small smile and leaving the room with Dr. Lam. Slowly, Vala raised a hand to her hand and began removing the taped electrodes one by one. Daniel, with what Vala thought must be incredible restraint, didn't attempt to help her. It wasn't until she'd placed the last wire on the table that he reacted at all.

"Vala?" He said, his voice muted, hesitant. She turned to face him, but couldn't find any words to express what she wanted to say. She didn't even  _know_  what she wanted to say. She just wanted him near.

Daniel took a step forward when she didn't answer, and when she didn't flinch, he took another until he was next to her chair. When his hand moved to hover near her arm, Vala pushed herself away from the table, still in the chair and wound her arms around his waist, hands clutching at the material of his BDUs. Not a second passed before his arms were around her shoulders, one of his hands at the back of her head, keeping her to him with more force than was required but less than was desired by either of them. When even that contact was no longer enough, Daniel lowered his hands to her waist and pulled her so she was standing upright and her full length was pressed against him, her head now buried at his neck.

"It was a bad plan." She said, the drop of one tear darkening the material of his jacket, "I know I didn't think so then but I suddenly find myself wishing we'd never gone through with it."

She felt the shudder of a short laugh pass through his body and into her own and held on tighter.

"That makes two of us." He replied, his voice hoarse. "Four of us actually, or seven, or a whole mountain-full of people. But me most of all."

"On the plus side," she said, a watery smile overtaking her lips, "Dr. Lam won't have to run that paternity test now. There's one more mystery solved."

If she'd had time to form any doubts as to how Daniel felt with the news, his tightening grip on her before pulling back with a smile on his face would have dispelled them completely.

"She's so beautiful." He whispered, resting his forehead on hers.

"She is. And smarter than I ever was." Vala told him, her thumb stroking the same patch of stubble it had five years ago. "Must take after her father there."

The smile on his face grew before he pressed a soft kiss to her cheekbone. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of this alone." That made her pull back. Not far, just enough to better see his face.

"You're sorry?" She echoed incredulously. "I seem to recall regaining memories just now in which you tried to get me to change my mind at every step of the way."

"I should have tried harder." He told her, no trace of uncertainty in his voice. It was knowledge he'd been carrying around for five long years. If he'd made better arguments instead of reacting so aggressively. If he'd gone to Landry personally. If he'd never let go of her hand when he left her that morning after. "I'm not letting you go again." He swore to her.

Instead of arguing the point right then, she savoured his promise and laid her head on his shoulder. The vividness of her newly regained memories was already fading slightly and beginning to mesh with those of the rest of her life as her mind tried to sort out the timeline of events. The result was a progressively more confusing conflict of emotions as the joy - the euphoria - of her memories fought against the five years of sadness. She knew now what had happened, she knew she was mostly responsible for having been separated from her would-be family for five years, and she knew the man holding her as if she could single-handedly bring him paradise had never wavered in his affection for her. Until the world saw fit to stay on its new axis, it would be enough to get her through. As long as he never let her go, it would be enough.

 


	8. Resurfacing

"Over here!" Cam yelled, prompting his team to come running across the field to his position.

"What is it?" Sam asked, crouching down for a look.

"I don't know, check it out." He replied slowly, motioning towards his find.

"It's definitely not one we've seen before." Sam bent down closer to get a better look.

"That's a bell, Uncle Cam!" The youngest of the group cried out excitedly, setting her basket down.

"It's a 'bell'?" Cam asked suspiciously.

"I believe it it known as a 'harbell', ColonelMitchell." Teal'c supplied, the book of Minnesota flowers in his hands.

"It's really pretty." Sam remarked, reaching out to stroke a delicate blue petal. "I bet it would look really pretty in your hair, don't you think?"

"No." Nejaya replied simply, pulling at one of the stems as delicately as she could with her uncoordinated fingers to give it to her aunt. "This one's for you."

"Oh," Sam said, flustered but smiling, "thank you. Don't forget one for your Aunt Siremi."

"I know." Nejaya affirmed, quickly returning to the patch to take more samples for her quickly filling basket. "And one for Daddy!"

"I'm not sure your dad is that into flowers, pumpkin." Cam pointed out.

"But Uncle J- ...Uncle -"

"Uncle Jack?" Sam prompted.

"Uncle Jack - he said Daddy likes lots 'n lots of flowers. He likes to smell them because they tickle his nose!" Nejaya protested, looking at her new extended family with confusion.

A snicker was heard and three mischievous grins were dutifully locked away behind serious visages.

"Well if Uncle Jack said so it must be true. My mistake, princess. You keep doing your thing." Cam apologized, guiding her along the edge of the trees to the more pollen-heavy plants as the girl's parents relaxed on the porch some distance away, blissfully ignorant as to the shenanigans going on. Then again, it  _had_ been Vala's idea to go flower-picking... Yeah, there was no way she wasn't in on it with General O'Neill.

It had been almost five months since SG-1 had stumbled upon their lost teammate on Tarkan. After Vala's memories had been returned, SG-1 had stayed a few days, all of their upcoming missions having been discretely rescheduled or reassigned by a certain General and his always trusty sidekick. Daniel, however, chose to remain on Tarkan for as long as Vala would. If she decided Tarkan would be their home, Daniel would put in for an intergalactic change of address form. That was just common knowledge to anyone involved.

It had been just over four months since the idea of a father had been broken to Nejaya. Daniel and Vala had decided they needed some time for themselves and once the other members of SG-1 left, Nejaya had an extended sleepover with her cousins. It was selfish but it was necessary. So much had been done but too little had been said that night, five years ago. And now they not only had a relationship to consider but also a daughter. They took five days, camping at a lakeside not far from the village, and rediscovered each other in every way possible. On the sixth day, they returned to the village but only to pick up their daughter and go back to that lake, finally taking the family trip Vala had been promising Nejaya for weeks. It was on the morning of the next day, when the sun was rising to dispel the dew hovering over the lake, that Nejaya was told she wasn't all that different from her cousins after all. She had a Mama and a Daddy, and their family had just gotten separated a long time ago by accident. The concept of accidents was very vivid to the young girl as it is to most children. And the concept of a Father wasn't unfamiliar as she knew Chief Elom to be one as well as many other men in the village. So now that the undercurrent of distrust regarding SG-1 had been dispelled and her mother seemed happy with the people who once made her sad, it wasn't an insurmountable problem to make the final connection. When the trio returned to the village the next week, it was as a true, if new, family.

It had been three months - give or take a few days - since Nejaya had taken her first steps on Earth, stomping excitedly on the metal under her feet as her mother laid eyes on a home she'd thought she'd lost forever. They had come a long way in a short time, so much so that the team really only recognized the little girl who walked through the wormhole. Vala was easy enough to spot as the woman who very closely resembled the one on the recording they used to watch. But Daniel - it could be said that the man who returned to Earth that day had been missing in action for roughly five years. His eyes were brighter, smiles came easily to his lips and were almost guaranteed if either Vala or Nejaya were in the room.

Two hectic months had passed since the issue of homesickness wormed its way into their lives. The SGC base had fascinated Nejaya for all of two weeks before her young legs were itching to run in fields. She had been raised in a nearly limitless physical environment and didn't take well to concrete being above, below and around her at all times. Even Vala had started to get antsy from confinement but she had been through the process once before. Daniel's apartment had seen better results but not by much. Nejaya began to miss her aunt, her uncle, her cousins, her friends; Vala missed what was arguably her longest lasting friendship. The question of permanent residence was still being debated a week later when Landry had offered to assign Vala (at least temporarily) as a relay between the SGC and Tarkan, allowing her and her daughter to make at least bi-monthly trips back to their old home. The good General could find no way to justify sending Daniel along but he went anyway, every time.

It had been one month to the day since the papers legalizing Vala and Nejaya as American citizens had come in. First was a back-dated birth certificate with both Vala and Daniel's signatures displayed prominently at the bottom. They had it framed. Next was the return of Vala's forged birth certificate and social security number, both of which had been kept sealed but secure during her absence. And, although it wasn't anything that had enormous impact, Daniel was most thrilled simply to see Vala's name appearing on mail addressed to his -  _their_ \- apartment. It was ridiculous, maybe, but it felt like something wholly concrete he could look at to reassure himself that she was here and she was staying.

Finally, it had been nearly a week since one General Jack O'Neill had made a special call to General Landry to respectfully request that SG-1 (and a certain close friend) have a least a week's downtime for special, top secret business to be conducted somewhere around a lake up in Minnesota and would he mind terribly throwing a game of chess if the kid was watching? The Generals, both suffering from a severe case of responsibilities, had been delayed in reaching the cabin but were due the next day. Some felt that the Generals had timed it that way purposefully - it meant they'd be arriving after Nejaya had expanded her first bouts of crazed childhood energy and settled down - but they also happened to be the same people now being subjected to a five year old's flower power.

"Alright look, lil' princess," Cam sighed, admitting defeat an hour after his plan backfired in a major way. "I don't think we're gonna find every single flower in that book. It's a  _big_  book and we've got plenty already. Don't you think we could call it quits?"

"But I want to show Talika all of them!" Nejaya threw back, holding up her now heavy basket.

"Kid, you know she's gonna be jealous of you even if you only got one flower. You've got a ton now." Cam replied. He felt like a heel but he was starting to get the feeling that he'd still have errant flower petals in his hair when they got back to the SGC in a few days and wouldn't that just be peachy?

"Uncle Caaaam, you said you'd help!" The little girl whined, her features crumpling. "You promised!"

"Alright, alright," he groaned, "quit it with those puppy eyes. At least start decorating Uncle Teal'c hair, the stems'll stay better in his anyway."

"K!" The little girl replied happily, not noticing the glare passing from her new victim to her former one. As the group moved on to another smattering of flowers, Sam surreptitiously broke off and head back to the patio.

"Hey guys," she greeted Daniel and Vala, taking in the sight of the couple relaxing on the long patio chairs.

"Had enough of the girl scout adventures?" Daniel grinned as Sam leaned against the patio table.

"Yeah, I figured I should leave that up to the men." She grinned back, shooting a look back at the guys she left. Purple geraniums kind of suited Teal'c.

"We should feel bad." Vala said, her eyes closed as she soaked up the sun's rays. "But we don't." What was the point of such a close-knit family if you didn't use them once in a while?

Sam chuckled before pulling a printed piece of paper out of her back pocket.

"So, I know you guys have been looking for something a little more spacious and kid-friendly lately." She started, handing Daniel the paper. Vala's interest was piqued as well and she opened her eyes, leaning over the very short distance into Daniel's personal space. He didn't seem to mind one bit. On the page was a picture of a good-sized bungalow and all the relevant real estate details. "I just saw this listing online and thought you guys might like to check it out. It's a good neighbourhood, good school nearby, not too far from the base, plenty of room to run around."

"This looks familiar." Vala remarked, her eyebrows reaching for each other as she tried to jog her memory.

"Incredibly familiar." Daniel drawled, his eyes finding Sam's.

"Well, I think it might be somewhat...near...my house." She offered sheepishly.

"Might be?" Vala echoed, her lips quirking up.

"Definitely is, it's five doors down." Sam nodded with an embarrassed smile.

"You realize this would make you the prime target for any babysitting needs, don't you?" Daniel asked her dubiously.

"I...had thought of that, yes." She said slowly.

"Brave woman." Vala complimented her with a wink that spoke of possibly dangerous times ahead.

"Yeah well...I'll let you guys look that over." Their friend said, pushing herself off the table. "I should probably go save the guys now anyway."

They watched Sam make her way back to the group and fall into peels of laughter when she caught sight of Teal'c. Daniel then folded up the paper and put it away.

"That was mean." Vala said, pushing up her chair's arm and molding herself to Daniel's side.

"Nah," Daniel reassured her, dropping a kiss on her head and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "If we'd told her and they ended up rejecting our offer, she'd have gotten her hopes up for nothing."

"True." She replied sleepily. "How many rooms does it have again?" She asked, knowing the answer.

"Three." He indulged her.

"Right, perfect for when Cassandra comes to visit for the holidays." Vala nodded into his t-shirt clad chest.

"Right." He agreed automatically. "Then again, that is what fold-out living room couches are for too."

Vala didn't answer but he felt her smile through the material of his shirt and knew it matched his.

What the next week or month or year might hold, they didn't know. Milestones, no doubt, plenty of milestones. But they'd recently reached an important one that had been seven years in the making, there wasn't anything left in the world they couldn't tackle. 

* * *

 

The end!


End file.
